National Farmers Federation says farmers are already paying for the measures and should not be made to pay more
Jon Lockwood, managing director of Goldfields Honey says primary producers can’t afford and shouldn’t have to pay a biosecurity protection levy.Jon Lockwood, managing director of Goldfields Honey says primary producers can’t afford and shouldn’t have to pay a biosecurity protection levy.In September Jon Lockwood travelled to an almond orchard in Balranald in the New South Wales Riverina, and euthanised about 2,500 of his bees.
“We’ve got to find a lot of money to treat the varroa mite and additional labour to implement the treatments. Now we have to find more money to pay for biosecurity,” he says. “I don’t think that we should pay for it – agriculture as a whole is suffering. I don’t think that we can afford to pay for it.”
“Farmers recognise they have a role to protect the biosecurity system, but I would say that the producers are already paying that system,” the NFF’s chief executive, Tony Mahar, told a parliamentary hearing into the levy on Tuesday. “We warmly welcomed the contribution commitment from the Albanese government around a locked-in source of funding … what we didn’t ask for was to get whacked with an extra $50m that we don’t know where it’s going to be spent.
“Veterinarians are key players in a strong biosecurity system that can detect animal disease threats early,” a spokesperson says. “They need to be on farms to undertake passive biosecurity surveillance and work with primary producers to optimise farm planning and practices. The cost of doing this is currently met by the veterinary profession and farmers, and it’s not sustainable.
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