Press conference in Brisbane, QLD

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
BRISBANE
WEDNESDAY, 26 APRIL 2023
 
SUBJECTS: Biosecurity risks and funding, grocery prices.

MURRAY WATT: Okay, well thanks, everyone, for coming along today to CTC Port Group, and thanks to the managers and workers here for hosting us on site. This is a short distance from the Port of Brisbane which is, of course, a major gateway for containers and imports into our country but, unfortunately, it's also a major gateway for biosecurity risk material, as is the case for every port and every airport around our country.
 
We, of course, as a trading nation, find it really important to make sure that we're able to get products out of these ports and into these ports, but we need to recognise that with that comes significant biosecurity risk and, unfortunately, that risk is growing.
 
What we know is that as a result of a range of factors from climate change, to increased diseases, to even things like the amount of online mail and online parcels that are coming into the country these days, the biosecurity risks that our country faces continue to grow each and every day and very often these ports are in the front line of that war on biosecurity risk.
 
Now, we need to take every step we possibly can to avoid this biosecurity risk material coming into our country because, as the Agriculture Minister, I know very well the cost that that biosecurity risk would have to our agriculture industry right around the country.
 
All up, our agriculture industry is worth $90 billion to this country and, of course, it props up regional economies and rural communities right across the country, and it's simply too important to put that industry, those jobs and those communities, at risk by not taking biosecurity seriously.
 
So that's why what we're doing at the moment is taking more action to lift our biosecurity protections. We, of course, took a lot of measures last year in response to the risk of foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease which we now see in Indonesia and a number of other countries nearby. 
 
But one of the other things that we want to be working on is making sure that we can deliver sustainable biosecurity funding for our country. This is something that has never happened in our country and over the last 10 years, under the Coalition, they've comprehensively failed to put in place a sustainable biosecurity funding that would ensure that our agriculture sector and the rest of the country is protected in the way that it should be. So, we need to make sure that we move towards permanent, dedicated funding for biosecurity rather than top-up measures year to year, which is what we've seen in years gone by. That's the way that we can make sure that we keep our agriculture safe from the sorts of things that we can see in this machinery here today.
 
We will be taking you for a look shortly at some of the machinery that has come in through our ports and it has been highly contaminated in some regions. There's a piece of machinery behind us which is actually going to be sent back home because it simply cannot be cleaned sufficiently to reduce that biosecurity risk and you have probably seen some of the media coverage of the explosion in the number of contaminated cars that we have coming into Brisbane and every other port in the country, which is meaning that we are having to take additional steps to reduce that biosecurity risk material.
 
So, as I say, what this is today is more demonstration that we face increasing biosecurity risks in this country, that we do need to put in place a sustainable biosecurity funding system and, importantly, that that system has to be funded fairly and that burden has to be shared across the community. Biosecurity is a shared responsibility and so is funding it, so we need to make sure that taxpayers are putting in our share through the government, but we also need to make sure that risk creators, like importers, are paying their share and also the beneficiaries of the system pay their share as well because it's in all of our interests to keep agriculture safe and have a strong biosecurity system. Happy to take any questions.
 
JOURNALIST: What kind of risks, I guess, are we trying to prevent when it comes to machinery like this and the soil that they carry?
 
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well whether we're talking about the kind of industrial or farm machinery that we can see here today, or whether we're talking about cars, fridges being brought in containers, unfortunately there's a rise in proportion of those imports that do contain soil and other contaminated material that contains diseases.
 
So, for example, in the Port of Brisbane alone, last year there were about 12 and a half thousand containers that came through that were a biosecurity concern and 11 per cent of those containers contained biosecurity risk material and that could be everything from bugs to weeds, to snails in some cases, and these are things that aren't already in Australia and if they get loose in Australia then that's immensely damaging for our horticulture industry as well as a whole range of other agricultural industries. So that's why we have to take such strong steps to keep these things out because our agriculture sector and our natural environment rely on keeping those kind of exotic pests and diseases out.
 
JOURNALIST: Specifically, what are some of those pests and diseases that you're concerned about?
 
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, again, to give you the cars example, and to put some figures around that, last year in the Port of Brisbane we had an increase in the number of cars being imported through the Port of Brisbane by 4 per cent, but the number of contaminated cars containing contaminated material went up by 62 per cent. So, there's a very disproportionate number of cars that are coming into the Port of Brisbane that are contaminated with biosecurity material and that's the case for every one of our major ports around the country.
 
And, unfortunately, on inspection by our fantastic biosecurity officials, the kind of things that they're finding are things like the brown marmorated stinkbug, exotic snails, cyan weed, and they're the kind of things most Australians have never heard of because we've been able to keep them out of this country before. But, as I say, if they get into this country, they can wreak absolute havoc on our horticulture industries, they can actually produce environmental damage as well to the wider, natural environment and, of course, there are everything from foot-and-mouth disease to lumpy skin disease, there are all sorts of diseases which we've been able to keep out of Australia but if they got in here they would be immensely damaging to our agricultural industry.
 
JOURNALIST: Why has there been an increase? What is driving it? 
 
MURRAY WATT: We think that the best explanation in terms of cars is that because of the disruption to supply changes that we saw through COVID and the long delays that people were experiencing getting their cars bought into the country, in many cases, car-makers overseas were simply storing these cars in paddocks for very extended periods of time because they couldn't get them on boats to bring into the country.
 
Now, of course, in other countries that might not have as tight biosecurity regimes as Australia, those paddocks are, in some cases, contaminated themselves. So, you get all sorts of creepy crawlies crawling in through cars on tyres and things like that, and, unfortunately, we haven't seen car makers and importers take enough responsibility for cleaning those products before they get to Australian shores.
 
So we've been doing a lot of work with car makers and car importers in particular to provide them with the information they need about the cleaning standards that need to be met and the biosecurity standards that need to be met before those cars are ever put on a boat to come to Australia but, of course, if the job isn't done right at the export destination, or export source, then it's got to be done properly here in Australia. 
 
JOURNALIST: Who should be paying for the inspection of those items that are being imported? Is it the farmers who stand to lose the most, or the importers?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, I think specifically around these sorts of imports, as I say, biosecurity is a shared responsibility, and I don't shy away from the fact that the federal government and taxpayers have a responsibility to help pay for our system to keep these sorts of diseases out. But I do think we need to ensure that the cost of providing biosecurity services is shared across the community and that includes making sure that risk creators, like importers, and people who benefit from the biosecurity system all pay their way as well. We've all got a common interest in making sure that our agricultural sector and our natural environment are kept safe of these types of diseases and what that means is that we all have to pay our way.
 
Now, right now, for instance, we are having consultations with importers about increasing fees and charges on the imports that they - or the biosecurity fees that they pay for imports and, unfortunately, under the Coalition, those fees and charges haven't been substantially reviewed since 2015. Now, what that means is that, of course, the cost of providing biosecurity services continues to rise but we haven't had the income coming in from importers that we need to pay for those services and you've probably seen press - media coverage of the impact that's had on the departmental budget. So, we do need to be having a discussion with importers, with producers, with the wider community, about how we share the ever-increasing cost of providing biosecurity services. 
 
JOURNALIST: How much is that? How much is that cost? I guess what is that fee that people pay right now?
 
MURRAY WATT: So currently, the Federal Budget provides roughly $600 million a year for biosecurity services, and that includes everyone from the officials who are in ports and in places like this doing those inspections to the people we have working in head office designing the policies to keep these things safe.
 
But importers do pay different types of fees and charges, depending on the kind of import that they're bringing in. So whether it's a container that might be different to a car which might be different to a horse, so it might not be possible to give you a uniform figure but one of the things that we are consulting with importers right now is lifting the - what's known as the “FID” – which is one of the import charges that people pay for any import that comes in. We're looking at having to increase that by $5 per import declaration because, again, that's a fee that hasn't been raised for several years while costs have gone up. So, depending on the product, you're looking at different types of fees and charges, but that is an example of the kind of fee that we are looking at increasing on importers to help pay for the protections that are needed.
 
JOURNALIST: Will you introduce a new tax in next month's budget to pay for those services?
 
MURRAY WATT: People will need to wait for the budget to see what we're going to be spending on biosecurity and how that's going to be paid for, but what I can say is that I'm in active discussions with the Treasurer, the Finance Minister, and my Cabinet colleagues about how much we should be spending on our biosecurity system and how that should be paid for. So it will be budget night that we will be able to tell people exactly what we're spending and how that will be paid for, but I think I've given a pretty clear indication that we do need to make sure that we have sustainable biosecurity funding in this country and we do need to share the responsibility of paying for it between those who create the risk and those who benefit from it. 
 
JOURNALIST: What does the sustainable funding model look like? How much?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, again, we will have to wait until budget night to see exactly how much we're spending because it won't surprise you to know that every minister is currently negotiating hard to get the maximum funding they possibly can for their portfolio, and I'm certainly doing that when it comes to agriculture and biosecurity.
 
But what I do think we need to do is to make sure that we do have a sustainable biosecurity funding system and what that really means is about locking in every single year a predictable amount of money that provides the biosecurity services that we need and if we can do that through this budget, or a future budget, then that will overcome the problem we've had for the last few years which is that the base funding for biosecurity just hasn't been enough to deliver the services that are actually needed and so what the former Government used to is to top it up with a one-year, or two-year funding injection which would then run out and then we'd be back in the same situation with no certainty about biosecurity funding and no predictability. So, if there's one thing that I want to be able to achieve it's about making sure that we have a consistent amount from year to year which is indexed to keep up with cost increases and that's the kind of discussions I'm having with my colleagues at the moment. 
 
JOURNALIST: I guess considering that Australia has very strict biosecurity measures, world-renowned biosecurity measures, yet importers are still, you know, feel free and safe to bring in something that looks like that, I guess is there - is the balance lost between, I guess, the penalties that the importers could face when they do that?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, the particular importer who tried to bring in the piece of machinery behind us, which is so contaminated that it's actually going to have to be sent back, they are going to wear the cost of that transport. So Australian taxpayers aren't going to pick up the tab for importers who do the wrong thing. We, of course, provide a level of biosecurity service through the government, as we should to increase trade, but where people are doing the wrong thing, they will be picking up the tab, and I think that is going to send a message to importers that they need to lift their game. They can't get away with bringing in contaminated products that are a risk to the Australian community and to our agriculture industry in particular. 
 
JOURNALIST: Are you looking to increase penalties or is it just through the fee structure?
 
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well we - last year we actually increased penalties, particularly on travellers coming through airports who do the wrong thing, because, of course, that's another major gateway for risk material being brought into the country and we've already seen some travellers who have tried to bring in meat products and other risky materials, slapped with those higher fines and higher penalties already. But if there is more that we can do to be fining and penalising importers through increased penalties then we're happy to do that, but the major focus of our efforts at the moment is simply getting a fee structure in place which sees importers pay their way, pay their share, and provide us with the revenue that we need to provide a very strong biosecurity system that keeps our agricultural industry safe.
 
JOURNALIST: So, can you guarantee that farmers won't be worse off by any change - increases to funding or spending on biosecurity?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, again, we'll be able to say more about exactly how much we're spending and who will pay for it on budget night, which isn't too far away. But what I can guarantee Australian farmers is that under the Albanese government, we will continue to have a world-class biosecurity system and what I want to achieve, through the budget negotiations, is a higher level of biosecurity funding than this country has ever had and a more certain level of biosecurity funding that we've ever had. That's what I'm working towards and that, I think, will be very much welcomed by farmers.
 
JOURNALIST: I guess, you know, it's a lot easier to throw away an illegal McMuffin than ship off something like that. What does it do to, I guess, the volume of shipping and the supply flow?
 
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, there's no doubt that when we find material that is contaminated, that does slow down shipping and supplies of important imports into our country. So, whoever it was who ordered that piece of machinery behind us is unfortunately now not going to be able to use it because the person importing it didn't do the right thing. And there is no doubt that the rise in contaminated cars that we've been seeing in this country is one factor causing some of the delays that people are experiencing in getting their cars, if not the only factor, of course, there are still major problems with supply chains internationally. So, it's actually taking more time for cars to be even put on boats in the first place.
 
But if we can't get importers doing the right thing and bringing in clean products that don't present a biosecurity risk that is going to slow down supply chains even further and it's going to slow down shipping. So, it's in our national interest if we can get this system working better, and a core part of that is making sure we have sustainable biosecurity funding.
 
JOURNALIST: Just on food prices, so are you concerned about the price of food in Australia at the moment? Food inflation is at its highest in the UK, it's up in New Zealand and we're expecting new figures today in Australia. 
 
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, we'll obviously have to wait and see those new figures today before we know exactly what's happening in Australia, and I think it's important to note that in recent months we have seen fruit and vegetable prices come down in Australia which is a great thing for family budgets, and I certainly hope that we see a continuation of that today.
 
But we all know that rising grocery prices are putting a burden on family budgets and that's why one of the key things that our government wants to do in next week's budget, or in a couple of weeks' time, is provide more cost-of-living relief in addition to what we've already done. We've obviously already provided energy price relief, particularly to those most disadvantaged in our community. We started the year with a cheaper medicines policy, and you would have seen more about that today, to expand that. We're bringing in cheaper childcare on 1 July, but there's no doubt that those increasing grocery prices are a real challenge for many Australians.

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