CATTLE producers must be at the head of the table when decisions are made on the spending of funds raised from a proposed additional biosecurity protection levy.
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This message was delivered to Agriculture Minister Murray Watt when he visited Gracemere saleyards near Rockhampton in Queensland this morning to outline his government's budget announcement of a billion dollar biosecurity funding boost.
Part of that money will be raised via an additional payment to be collected from all producers. In the case of beef it will amount to 50 cents per head sold, on top of the current $5 transaction levy paid.
Peak grassfed producer body Cattle Australia said support from the beef industry for the proposal hinged entirely on securing a guarantee that it would have strong input into how the funds were administered.
The concern is the money could be swallowed up in existing programs, or even used to prop up a Department of Agriculture with widely documented financial woes.
Cattle Australia's new chief executive officer Luke Bowen said there were also big questions around how the new levy would be collected, with scarce detail so far provided by the government.
Agriculture levies were a sacred cow, and producers would not support governments interfering in how they were set or administered, he said.
Producer representatives also raised concerns about what they feel is the misrepresentation of overall producer contribution to biosecurity protection in Australia. The 6 per cent figure touted by the government grossly understated the contribution, Mr Bowen said.
However, Mr Watt said his government was locking in a fair system to pay for biosecurity that shared the cost, with taxpayers, risk creators and beneficiaries of the system all contributing.
The government would be committing significantly more permanently-dedicated taxpayer funding, and recovering biosecurity clearance costs from importers and others who create risk, he said.
The detail: A new cost recovery charge of 40 cents per item on low value ($1000 or less) goods imported into Australia by sea will be introduced. That is expected to recover more than $27m.
Fees and charges on importers will also be increased from the start of July, which will pump an extra $45m into the biosecurity coffers.
Further, importers' fees will be reviewed and adjusted annually.
And the Passenger Movement Charge on international travellers will increase from $60 to $70 per person from 1 July 2024.
Mr Watt described the money being sought from producers as a 'modest contribution'.
But the cattle industry points out the new levy comes on top of a swag of other ways producers already pay for biosecurity.
These include:
- The Animal Health Australia levy, set at 13c of the $5 transaction levy, which contributes $7.5 million annually for AHA to develop programs that improve cattle health and biosecurity.
- Producer transaction levies totalling more than $7m fund the annual operations of the Integrity Systems Company, which provides lifetime traceability for the grassfed cattle sector.
- Direct producer investment in NLIS lifetime traceability, particularly cattle ear tag investment. Australia's 24m-plus head of cattle represent a total investment of almost $100 million in lifetime traceability devices on the part of producers.
- Producer investment in everyday on-farm biosecurity. This includes Livestock Production Assurance compliance, biosecurity plans, personnel movement control, data management, livestock reconciliation and other cattle transfer compliance activities. Further, downstream supply chain costs including export meat inspection costs and traceability infrastructure can be also partially attributed to producers.
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
