Address to the National Biosecurity Forum, Canberra

CANBERRA
WEDNESDAY, 5 APRIL 2023
 
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Good morning everyone, it’s a pleasure to be here with you as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

I’d like to start by acknowledging the Traditional Owners on the lands on which we are gathering, the Ngunnawal people, and pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging.

And I reiterate the Government’s commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and to recognising our First Peoples in our constitution through a Voice to Parliament. A voice, not a veto, on matters that directly impact our First Peoples.

Congratulations again to last night’s award winners.

The farmers, scientists, researchers, policy, community and industry leaders who keep us safe from unwanted pests and diseases.

INTRODUCTION

I think all of us here today share a common understanding that biosecurity is vital for Australia.

It is vital for our agricultural sector, vital for our natural environment, vital for our international trade and vital for our Australian way of life.

And, of critical importance at the moment, it is vital for consumers, given any threat to our food supply has implications for the rising cost of living.

It’s a truism that biosecurity is a shared responsibility.

Everyone has a role to play in protecting and improving Australia’s biosecurity system.

It is a shared responsibility, whether you’re a returning traveller discarding or declaring risk items, a business owner looking to import goods, a farmer with a risk management plan for your property, or a government putting risk management systems in place.

Everyone has to contribute to the cause.

Today’s National Biosecurity Forum provides an opportunity to strengthen ties between governments, industry, and the community and is an important opportunity for us to discuss both the risks and the opportunities ahead of us.

While our biosecurity system has for the most part served us well up until now, and it is worth noting Australia remains free of the type of large-scale outbreak that would bring industry to its knees, over the last few years we have started to see cracks in our biosecurity wall.

Previous outbreaks such as White Spot Disease in prawns in south-east Queensland, Panama disease in bananas in Far North Queensland and Tomato Potato Psyllid in Perth have had significant impacts on our seafood and horticulture industries.

The risks are growing and increasing in complexity, driven by factors such as climate change, increasing trade and travel and changes in land use.

We need a biosecurity system that keeps pace with today’s needs and prepares for the threats of tomorrow.

A strong, smart and sustainable system that is supported by people across the country helps us manage growing biosecurity risks and protects Australia’s multi-billion-dollar industries.
Its benefits touch everyone.

WORK ALREADY BEING DONE

That’s why, from the day we came to office, the Albanese Government has made strengthening our biosecurity system one of our top priorities.

Not surprising, considering it was in my fifth week as Minister, we were notified that Foot and Mouth Disease had spread to Bali, having reached Indonesia before the election, along with Lumpy Skin Disease.

In the early months we therefore focused our efforts on improving our protections, our preparedness and our response capability in light of these outbreaks.

Since then, we have continued building our protections against emerging threats to our agricultural sector. 

In the October budget we invested $134m in new biosecurity measures like extra frontline staff, 20 new detector dogs and stronger defences against foot and mouth disease and other emerging threats.

We have also passed legislation to strengthen the penalties for those people caught wilfully trying to circumvent our strong biosecurity laws.

When the threat of FMD and LSD first emerged, we took a three-pronged approach to deal with the threat of FMD and LSD, by quickly assisting our international partners, shoring up our protections here in Australia and doing a health check of our ability to deal with an outbreak.

International support has been provided to Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea, including four million doses of FMD vaccine and 435,000 doses of LSD vaccines, with another million doses recently committed.

We have provided technical assistance and operational inputs to these nations through such things as rapid risk assessments, active and passive surveillance, diagnostic testing capacity and vaccine preparedness.

At our border we've reviewed our import permits and risk management measures for incoming air and sea passengers, imported cargo and mail items, and returning livestock vessels.

We have deployed sanitation foot mats in Australian international airports and just last week, the millionth passenger returning from Indonesia passed over those mats.

Our launch last year of the National Lumpy Skin Disease Action Plan has unified us all in these efforts.

We remain vigilant and continue to work collectively with industry, farmers, research organisations, the community and our regional partners, to keep our border protections strong and improve our readiness for any response. 

I also set up a joint interagency taskforce between the Department of Agriculture and the National Emergency Management Agency to assess and test our biosecurity systems should the unthinkable happen and an outbreak occurred.

The first quarterly progress report on the recommendations of the Taskforce, released by the department earlier today, highlights the breadth of work being undertaken in this space.

Priority is being placed on recommendations and associated activities that will ensure both the department and national biosecurity system are well placed to effectively respond to, and recover from, a significant emergency animal disease incursion. 

Today, I’m also pleased to release the second annual action plan to support the Commonwealth Biosecurity 2030 strategy to help us build a stronger, more collaborative and smarter biosecurity system.

The 2023 action plan reports progress on important priorities, including; 

• A successful collaboration with the Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers for monitoring mosquito vectors of human and animal diseases.
• Implementation of new technologies such as high throughput sequencing to efficiently test for exotic plant viruses in post-entry quarantine.
• Engaging with industry to trial end-to-end import supply chain solutions to transform how biosecurity outcomes are achieved.

THE CHALLENGE WE FACE

As you can see there’s a lot that’s been happening to strengthen our biosecurity system in the ten months we’ve been in office.
But, it is clear to me that our biosecurity system is under more strain than ever.

Anyone who saw the news earlier this week of the 38-tonne haul of illegally imported meat and plant products, one of the biggest seizures of biosecurity risk material in this country’s history, would understand the size of the task for our nation’s biosecurity officers.

Or the explosion in contaminated cars that are arriving at our ports, with unwelcome passengers like the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, exotic snails and Siam Weed.

Whether it’s at our airports, seaports or mail centres the risk of a biosecurity incursion is growing as external factors like climate change, new trade pathways and increased international movements become more prevalent.

As the risk grows so too does the cost of keeping out these exotic pests and diseases.

Just as upholding our biosecurity is a shared responsibility, so too is funding our biosecurity system.

This shared funding responsibility has been a longstanding practice between government, industry and the wider public.

But unfortunately, over the last few years, the way in which we fund our biosecurity system has not kept pace with these growing threats and costs.

Cost recovery settings for biosecurity operations have not been properly reviewed since 2015, resulting in budget deficits in three of the past four years.

Rather than passing on increasing costs to industry as has traditionally occurred under the Australian Government Charging Framework - and as recommended by the 2017 Craik Review - the former government plundered departmental cash reserves and ran up deficits that were hidden within larger departmental structures.

As a result, the department has needed to fund the shortfall in cost recovery, totalling more than $100 million.

Money that could have gone to improving the system, rather than simply doing the basics.

And of course, as you would all be well aware, Australia has never had a Sustainable Biosecurity Funding model.

This is despite it being recommended to the previous government in several reviews and reports, and it continually being asked for by industry leaders such as the National Farmers’ Federation.

Short term, temporary and terminating budget measures became the order of the day, rather than sustainable ongoing funding year to year.

Staff at the department have continually been asked to do more with less, particularly in relation to biosecurity.

They have done a great job in keeping Australia safe from exotic pests and disease, but they need help.

There will always be a place for surge funding when events occur or appear likely.

But clearly, we need to lock in a more sustainable way of funding our system, with predictable funding from year to year, rather than continue relying on the temporary funding injections that we have seen over the past few decades.

At the same time, we need to lock in a fair system of paying for it, that shares the cost between taxpayers, risk creators and beneficiaries of the system.

Because biosecurity – and how we pay for it – is a shared responsibility.

ENSURING STRONG BIOSECURITY INTO THE FUTURE

That’s why, at the last election, the Albanese Government made a commitment to implement a sustainable biosecurity funding model.

The $134 million of biosecurity commitments in the October budget, just five months after we were elected, was a down payment on a long-term sustainable funding method.

It was a significant investment that allowed us time to continue the consultation process on how a sustainable funding model might work.

Through that process, stakeholders from a wide variety of industries, everyone from Qantas to the Western Australian Fishing Industry Council and likely many of you here today, provided their feedback on the discussion paper drafted by the department.

What that showed to me is that our biosecurity system touches an incredibly wide section of our society.

Which means that it is vital that we get this funding model right.

Because it will benefit so many different parts of our economy.

Not only protecting our $90 billion agriculture sector, but also protecting our reputation as a clean, green trading partner across the globe.

It needs to be something that we all are invested in, from those who create the risk, to those who benefit from the risk being mitigated and of course the Australian people.

CONCLUSION

Our biosecurity system is something that all Australians should be incredibly proud of.

And I want to thank each and every one of you for your role in that national success.

The diligence and discipline shown by everyone in protecting us from exotic pests and disease deserves to be recognised and applauded.

Not to mention the stellar work of our departmental and biosecurity officers each and every single day in identifying and managing potential risks.

I am pleased to say that, in the Albanese Government, your efforts are now matched with proper national leadership.
But we simply cannot take our eye off the ball, with such massive threats on our doorstop.

We have FMD and LSD in Indonesia, African Swine Fever spreading across the world, not to mention Xylella and other assorted plant diseases that would prove incredibly costly.

We must do everything in our power to ensure that our biosecurity system is brought back up to speed, and then strengthened to deal with any future threats.

The Albanese Government takes its obligations to the Australian people seriously, as well as our commitment to the farmers, workers and processors I represent in my portfolio.

As a government we have an opportunity to do something that has never been achieved, providing long term certainty for our biosecurity system.

I hope you will all join me in genuine partnership and collaboration as we walk down that road together.

Thank you.