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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 51 asked in the Legislative Council on 6 May 2021 by Hon Colin De Grussa

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

BIOSECURITY AND AGRICULTURE MANAGEMENT ACT — REVIEW

51. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:

I refer to the long-gestating review into the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007.

(1) Did the review of this act commence in early 2020, as stated in the minister's response to question without notice 227?

(2) What is the status of the review and when will it be completed?

(3) Have any industry groups been consulted to date; and, if yes, which groups were consulted?

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:

I thank the member for the question.

(1)–(3) It is true that we have had a few things happen since I answered question without notice 227—for example, the COVID pandemic. We have also had a real increase in the number of biosecurity incidents. It is true that because we needed to put back the completion of the animal welfare review and we had a lot of resources diverted to biosecurity incidents and COVID management, I put back the commencement of the review into the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act. However, it has effectively started. It started in September 2020 with the commissioning of an analysis of comparable legislation in other jurisdictions and consultation with those other jurisdictions. At the moment, I am considering potential panel members to oversee the review. That panel will engage with all the stakeholders much in the same way that the panel oversaw the review and did the consultation under the Animal Welfare Act review. The panel will advise me of the time lines for completion of a review, but it will have to be a pretty complete review. Obviously, one of the big issues will be the regional biosecurity groups, so that will be a fair body of work. However, my aim is to have that review completed in the third quarter of 2022.