SENATOR THE HON RICHARD COLBECK
Senator for Tasmania
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation, Industry and Science
M E D I A R E L E A S E
24 July 2012
Just 28 days for industry to review new Biosecurity laws
The Federal Government looks set to bungle another important consultation period, this time dealing with new biosecurity legislation.
Chapters of draft legislation that will form the new Biosecurity Act have been progressively released for public comment since July 4 but an August 10 deadline for feedback has riled some industry sectors.
“The main grievance is that this is a very short amount of time to consider legislation of such magnitude,” Coalition Fisheries and Forestry spokesman Senator Colbeck said.
“So far 9 of 12 chapters have been released, which is 333 pages of reading alone. Then there is a Regulatory Impact Statement to consider, and also another related piece of draft legislation, the Inspector-General of Biosecurity Bill.
“And industry is still waiting to see chapters 2, 6 and 8 which deal with Human Health, Prevention and Control, and Emergency Provisions, so they will not have the full 28 days to consider those elements.
“It looks like the Federal Agriculture Minister is set to again alienate Australian industries with a farcical consultation period.
“It is clear Minister Ludwig just isn’t listening – he is ignoring industry and he is ignoring his parliamentary colleagues.
“Given the bungling of the Export Certification Reforms, the Coalition made it clear that the new Biosecurity Act would go to a Senate inquiry. For the Minister to come out and state that he wants the final bills debated in Parliament in the spring sitting is incredibly naive or incredibly arrogant – or both.
“The development of this draft legislation has taken almost three years and while there has been some industry input, it has been relatively restricted and participants have been bound by strict confidentiality agreements preventing them from discussing the mooted changes with the broader wider industry.
“In horticulture, for example, there about some 50 separate sectors which have had no input into the discussion until this 28 day consultation period.
“Labor has an appalling record when it comes to engaging in genuine consultation with industry and it looks like the Biosecurity Act is going to be its latest failure,” Senator Colbeck said.
Senator Richard Colbeck
