Login
Quarantine service likely to be abolished in shake-up
Submitted 19/12/2008
AAP
An independent report recommends a new biosecurity system be set up at a cost of $260 million per year, to combat the growing threat of globalisation, climate change and the potential for agri-terrorism.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said the Government has given in-principle support to all 84 recommendations of the Beale report, "One Biosecurity: A Working Partnership", which he released in Sydney today.
The report, by an expert panel chaired by Roger Beale, found that while Australia's quarantine system was good, it was far from perfect, as indicted by last year's equine influenza outbreak, which cost the racing industry upwards of $1 billion.
One of the key recommendations of the Beale report is the establishment of a new national biosecurity authority, bringing together the functions of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, Biosecurity Australia and parts of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
The new body would effectively abolish AQIS, which has come under fire after the equine influenza outbreak.
Other recommendations include creating a new Biosecurity Standards Commission to assess the risk of imports, the appointment of an inspector general of biosecurity and the introduction of new biosecurity legislation to replace the century-old Quarantine Act.
The report has also called for greater involvement from the states, territories and industries in the country's biosecurity system.
The new system would cost $260 million per year and an additional one-off figure of $225 million to upgrade IT and business systems, the Beale report found.
Giving the Government's in-principle support for the recommendations, Mr Burke said interim administration arrangements would take effect from July 1.
