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.