Biosecurity: Auditor-General slams ‘inappropriate’ compliance system as breaches go undetected

A damning report from the nation’s auditor-general has raised concern a growing number of biosecurity breaches are going undetected.

The report indicates more biosecurity breaches by air travellers could be going undetected. Picture: Luke Bowden

Australia’s arrangements for dealing with biosecurity violations are “largely inappropriate”, amid concern a growing number of breaches are going undetected.

Those startling findings were revealed in a damning Australian National Audit Office report, released today, which found the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment’s biosecurity compliance framework was severely lacking.

The report found an estimated 38,200 air travellers entered Australia with undetected high-risk biosecurity material, in the first nine months of 2019-20 alone, and that “travellers with declared or inspected risk material are being incorrectly released”.

The department’s own documentation revealed concessions that its broad risk assessments of air travellers meant “a large number of compliant travellers are intervened with unnecessarily whilst high risk travellers may be missed”.

Meanwhile, the department’s risk assessments for cargo still do not include the possibility of noncompliance by different entities, despite product substitution or fraudulent documentation being considered among the likely ways pests or disease could enter Australia.

The findings come after the Federal Government invested $400 million in the nation’s biosecurity system in this year’s budget, amid repeated warnings from the agriculture sector that the system still needed a long-term viable funding structure to protect farmers from overseas pests and diseases.

Industry says an outbreak of disease such as foot and mouth could cost Australia up to $50 billion over 10 years, while African swine fever could cost us more than $2 billion in just five years.

The ANAO report found the department lacked a clear framework for its compliance activities; had no method for assessing risk across the system; and intelligence was not being gathered or managed effectively.

The department was also not using its full suite of compliance tools, which can include monitoring and investigation, education, civil sanctions and criminal prosecutions.

“In the absence of frameworks, plans or targets to determine the desired outcomes of its regulation, the department is unable to demonstrate that its response to noncompliance is effective at managing biosecurity risks,” the report found.

The Auditor-General made eight recommendations to the department, all of which have been accepted.

Department head of biosecurity Andrew Tongue said the department had already begun work on improving its compliance and regulatory practices, prior to the report.

“Although Australia’s current biosecurity system has served our country well, the department recognises that the system must continue to evolve to enable appropriate management of known and emerging threats both domestically and globally,” Mr Tongue said.