‘All options’ being considered to fill $150 million biosecurity shortfall

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins has not ruled out revisiting the Biosecurity Protection Levy, which was due to be introduced in July.

New Agriculture Minister Julie Collins will not rule out reviving a controversial levy to fill a $150m hole in biosecurity funding.

Ms Collins said the Albanese Government was canvassing how it could raise the shortfall in cash after the Biosecurity Protection Levy failed to win parliamentary support in May.

Farmers and the Coalition considered that failure a win, with farmers arguing it was unjust to slug the sector to fight a risk they had no role in bringing in, unlike importers and inbound travellers.

But speaking the The Weekly Times, Ms Collins said “all options” were on the table, including tweaking the levy to get the support it needed in the parliament.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins with Shelley Bickerstaff, national brand manager at Frogmore Creek. Ms Collins said she was assessing all options to ensure biosecurity activities could continue as planned despite the Biosecurity Protection Levy not passing parliament. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

The levy was due to be rolled out on July 1 to raise about $150m over three years – or $50m a year – to fund “at the border” biosecurity activities. The money raised was destined for general revenue, which many argued lacked transparency and no guarantee the money would be spent on biosecurity.

“I’m not ruling anything in or out, I’ll consider all options,” Ms Collins said, when asked whether her government had given up on the levy.

“We added additional funding of $1bn to make sure we have a world renowned biosecurity system to protect Australian producers.

“I want to continue to engage with people and understand where they’re coming from in terms of the (biosecurity levy) proposal.

“I’m concerned about what this means going forward, about that gap,” Ms Collins said, referring to the $50 million biosecurity budget shortfall.

She said the federal government had moved to a cost recovery model “where it can”.

From July 1 last year, fees on importers were raised to ensure full cost recovery, bringing in an additional $47.1 million to the biosecurity system.

The National Farmers’ Federation is pushing for a container levy and recently asked the federal government for clarification on the trade impediments blamed for blocking the revenue raising move.

NSW Farmers said a greater level of cost should be borne by risk creators.

“Many previous biosecurity breaches have come in via container products, and yet often, farmers have been left to carry a significant burden of the cost associated with managing biosecurity outbreaks,” the organisation’s biosecurity committee chair Ian McColl said.

Nationals leader David Littleproud called on Ms Collins to explain how her government would fund biosecurity a month on since the failed Biosecurity Protection Levy was due to be implemented.

“July 1 has come and gone and Labor hasn’t announced a new plan to fund biosecurity. Labor must explain if taxpayers will now foot the biosecurity bill,” Mr Littleproud said.