Independent Review – Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
As part of the 2018-19 Budget, the Government announced it will introduce a new levy on all containers and non-containerised cargo transported to Australia by sea from 1 July 2019, to enable the Government to invest in measures that will help it detect, identify and respond to exotic pests and diseases earlier.
This measure will apply a $10.02 levy per twenty foot container (or equivalent) and non‑containerised cargo will incur a levy of $1 per tonne. The levy will be payable on a quarterly basis and will be administered by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (the Department).
The levy is part of a series of measures being taken in response to the report Priorities for Australia’s Biosecurity System: An independent review of the capacity of Australia’s biosecurity system and the underpinning Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity (the Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity Review). A copy of the final report and further information on each of the measures is available on the Department’s website.
The Department certified the Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity Review as an independent review meeting the standards for a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS). The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) does not assess the quality of independent reviews. The Department was compliant with the Government’s RIS requirements.
The Department estimated the net effect of the suite of measures taken in response to the review to be a regulatory saving of over $836000 a year, in accordance with the Government’s regulatory burden measurement framework. The OBPR has agreed to the Department’s estimate.
In March 2019, the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources established an industry steering committee to provide him with advice on finalising levy scope and design. Any estimated change in regulatory burden will be updated as implementation details for the biosecurity imports levy are settled.
You can find the Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity Review here.