The Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, The Hon. David Littleproud MP, has recently released a statement on the new biosecurity levy, due to come into effect on July 1, 2019. He talks about how Australia’s agriculture industry is worth $60 billion, and at least 300,000 jobs, and how if a foreign pest or disease made it past our borders, that it would result in at least $50 billion dollars in losses, increasing food prices for consumers. He goes on to further say that it makes sense that those creating risk should contribute proportionately to the cost of biosecurity screening, and that most stakeholders accept this. As a result of hearing concerns of importers around various levy designs, Mr Littleproud is establishing an industry steering committee so the industry itself can help design the levy.
The full statement can be read on the Ministerial website here: http://minister.agriculture.gov.au/littleproud/Pages/Media-Releases/LITTLEPROUD-MEDIA-STATEMENT-Statement-on-biosecurity-levy.aspx