This week the Minister for Agriculture, Senator Bridget McKenzie announced the establishment of a new biosecurity advisory group, Biosecurity Futures.
The
group will be made up of members from the National Farmers’ Federation,
Australian Pork Limited, Fertiliser Australia, Freight and Trade Alliance, Food
and Beverage Importers Association, Tourism and Transport Forum, Minerals
Council and Seafood Industry Australia.
It
will be chaired by the Minister and meet twice a year, or as needed, to discuss
biosecurity concerns as well as ways to improve the biosecurity system.
National
Farmers’ Federation CEO Tony Mahar said he was looking forward to working with
the group to discuss the diverse biosecurity issues that affect the agriculture
sector.
“Australia’s
biosecurity system is absolutely fundamental to the success of our agriculture
industries, to the health of our natural environment and to our society and
economy at large,” said Mr Mahar.
“We welcome the Minister’s decision to set up this new advisory group, which will allow industry to contribute constructively to biosecurity policy discussions at a high level.”
Today I signed the National #Biosecurity Statement which was drafted by Gov, industry and environmental groups to set out our vision and goals. It’s great to have a shared statement we can all sign on to. @Australian_Pork @NationalFarmers @NSWFarmers @AUSVEG @ISCAustralia pic.twitter.com/A2hDSY13GB
— Senator Bridget McKenzie (@senbmckenzie) November 27, 2019
In
May this year, the Inspector General of Biosecurity said that Australia’s
border biosecurity system was almost at breaking point due to the effort
required to keep the brown marmorated stink bug out.
Following this announcement, as well as the recent fear of other highly damaging pests and diseases such as African swine fever and Xylella fastidiosa, there has been an increased focus on biosecurity.
“We’re operating
in an increasingly global environment – the volume of goods and people moving
in and out of the country continues to grow, and so too does the biosecurity
task,” said Mr Mahar.
“A single biosecurity incursion has the potential to bring one or more of our farming industries to its knees, and to cause untold damage to our unique natural environment.
“Resourcing the system that keeps these unwanted pests out is too important to compromise.
“We need increased and sustainable funding to support a strong biosecurity system – be that through an imports levy or another mechanism.”
Minister McKenzie’s announcement was part of an address to the National Biosecurity Forum, where she also signed on to the National Biosecurity Statement.
The
statement was developed by industry, environment groups and government to
articulate a vision for the biosecurity system and demonstrate the principle of
shared responsibility and can be read here.
