THE Federal government accepted all 42 recommendations of the independent review of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity (IGAB) last week.
The response represents a commitment by all governments to build a stronger national biosecurity system to meet new challenges and protect Australia’s farming future, according to Federal Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud.
Mr Littleproud said the government had accepted the recommendations in order to strengthen the system over the next five to 10 years.
“Australia’s international trade is booming and more people are heading down under on holiday, which creates new biosecurity challenges,” Mr Littleproud said.
“We’ll focus on biosecurity awareness, sustainable funding, research and innovation and managing biosecurity across all sectors.
“We need to know where the risks are to be able to deal with them more quickly.
“Our $60 billion agriculture industries are at stake, along with our pristine environment and fantastic lifestyle.”
Mr Littleproud said the government was already working on many of the report’s recommendations.
“We are in the final stages of negotiations with State and Territory governments to deliver a new IGAB and I look forward to finalising the new agreement,” he said.
This year the government announced $313 million over six years from 2017-18 for biosecurity, including $25.2m for smart new pest-detecting technology and $36.5m to improve biosecurity data and analytics to better identify which passengers, countries and imports are likely to bring in pests and diseases.
The National Biosecurity Committee held its 2018 National Biosecurity Forum in Canberra last week and will report on ongoing and improved commitment to national biosecurity under the new agreement.
An independent review of the capacity of the national biosecurity system and the IGAB was initiated in 2015.
The final report, ‘Priorities for Australia’s biosecurity system’, was presented to agriculture ministers in July 2017.
The report confirmed that the national biosecurity system faces increasing resourcing pressures and risks, driven by growth in international trade and passenger movement.
The government expects that volumes of passenger, shipping and containerised cargo arrivals in Australia are set to increase by more than 70 per cent by 2025.
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics found that good national biosecurity systems could save the average farmer up to $17,500 per farm, per year.
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WA Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the State government was committed to delivering a recognised and respected biosecurity system and welcomed the national response to the IGAB review.
“Our biosecurity system protects our highly valuable agriculture, aquaculture and forestry industries and helps minimise the impact of harmful pests and diseases on our enviable environment and lifestyle,” Ms MacTiernan said.
“We need a truly national approach to biosecurity – while WA’s isolation has long protected us from invasive pests and weeds, the massive growth in tourism in trade has brought down those traditional defences.
“Delivering the 42 recommendations of the review and developing a revised IGAB are important steps forward in strengthening our biosecurity system further and ensuring it meets future challenges.”
