Biosecurity Bill

[Jo Collins]

- It gives me great pleasure to invite you to learn about the draft Biosecurity Bill for South Australia.

This proposed legislation will be a game changer for how we prevent and manage pests and diseases in our state.

A strong biosecurity system protects our economy, terrestrial and aquatic environments, and communities from the spread and impacts of serious pests and diseases.

Think fruit fly, foot and mouth disease, white spot disease, or red imported fire ant.

At both a state and national level, we face a future of changing biosecurity risks.

The rules and requirements set down in South Australia's biosecurity legislation give us a legal basis to prevent the entry of new threats into our state to be able to mount effective emergency responses when pest and disease incursions unfortunately do occur and to manage the further spread and impacts of pests and diseases that have become established in South Australia.

Biosecurity legislation is also fundamental for market access.

Being able to assure domestic and export markets that our agricultural, fisheries, aquaculture, and forestry products are safe gives South Australia a trade advantage.

Certification and traceability are vital components of a good biosecurity system.

The draft Biosecurity Bill is now out for public consultation and the bill seeks to modernise South Australia's approach to biosecurity through consolidating various existing acts or parts thereof into a more consistent, more proactive, more collaborative, and stronger legal framework.

The acts involved are administered by PRSA.

[Nathan Rhodes]

- Around the country, governments are shifting to consolidated Biosecurity Acts.

Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, and the Commonwealth all now have Biosecurity Acts.

The Australian Capital Territory has a Biosecurity Bill before its Assembly, and Victoria has been consulting on its biosecurity legislation.

South Australia is also playing its part in this process of national biosecurity reform.

These consolidated Biosecurity Acts use consistent terms and regulatory tools, whether they relate to animal health, plant health, or invasive species.

That's important so that any biosecurity issue, whether economic, environmental, or social in nature, is managed appropriately and using similar provisions.

It also means businesses operating across the country face less red tape through harmonised biosecurity approaches across state borders.

Everyone has a shared responsibility to be proactive on biosecurity.

The Biosecurity Bill introduces the new concept of the general biosecurity duty.

Under the Biosecurity Bill, every South Australian will have a duty to prevent and manage biosecurity risks.

For example, if you're a farmer, this could be ensuring that you keep any diseased stock separate from healthy stock.

If you're a contractor, this could mean ensuring your machinery is cleaned between properties.

If you're a householder, this could be reporting an unusual pest in your backyard.

In the state's waters, this could be keeping your vessel's hull free of marine biofouling.

Another underlying philosophy in drafting the Biosecurity Bill is recognising and fostering the vital role and capabilities of industry to undertake best practice biosecurity.

The Bill provides a means to formally recognise and adopt industry codes of practice, standards, and market assurance schemes.

Provisions for co-regulation would enable accredited businesses to certify produce for market overseen by independent audits to ensure a robust system.

Another important feature of a modern biosecurity legislation is ensuring there are robust powers available in the event of a major biosecurity emergency.

Australia is under constant risk of incursions of serious livestock diseases, including foot and mouth disease, rabies, African swine fever, and lumpy skin disease.

There are also major plant diseases overseas that could destroy multiple crops and native plants such as Xylella and wind-borne Phytophthora.

Biosecurity powers need to be proportionate to risk and urgency, appropriate response powers are absolutely essential if we were to ever face such devastating disease threats in South Australia.

There is much more in the draft Bill.

The underlying legislation for the Dog Fence gets a contemporary upgrade.

The Bill enables the management of contaminants in animals and plants and their products where they pose significant biosecurity impacts.

The Bill provides for a regulatory and compliant toolkit to use measures that are fit for purpose to address biosecurity issues.

There are provisions to address the biosecurity risk of stray livestock, and the Bill seeks to incorporate extra-territorial powers so we can take preventative actions interstate and online.

Proposed penalties align with the scale of damage that can occur from pests, diseases, and contaminants.

[Jo Collins]

- We welcome you to critique what's being proposed in the draft Biosecurity Bill.

I appreciate it's new and complex to initially take in so please take your time to digest it and think about what it could mean for you and the sector or community you come from.

We want to hear what you agree with and what we haven't got right in the draft Bill.

It's very important that you make a submission which can be done online through YourSAy during August and September.

South Australia's biosecurity status is such a valuable asset, and we want to keep it healthy for generations to come.

Thank you for the daily contribution you make to the state's biosecurity efforts and your assistance in helping to make a modern Biosecurity Act for South Australia.

In line with other governments across Australia, the South Australian Government is looking to modernise its biosecurity legislation.

The Bill seeks to provide a more harmonised, flexible, and outcome-focused approach to the way we regulate biosecurity risks.

PIRSA previously consulted on the concepts paper in the Bill through a technical directions paper released in 2020.

The subsequent consultation summary was tested again with stakeholders in 2022.

Thank you to everyone who participated in that process and provided feedback.

Acts proposed to be replaced in the draft Bill are the Livestock Act, the Plant Health Act, the Dog Fence Act, and the Impounding Act.

Certain provisions for managing aquatic pests in the Fisheries Management Act would also come across.

Not all biosecurity related legislation is proposed to grow into the Bill.

There's no intention to change the current arrangements regarding declared weeds and invertebrate pests, with management of these continuing to be by regional landscape boards under the Landscape South Australia Act.

Diseases in humans will continue to be regulated by SA Health through the South Australian Public Health Act.

Food safety and agvet chemical control of use will stay as it is, and Vine Health Australia will continue its role under the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Act.

Biosecurity risks to Australia are increasing.

Movement of goods and people into and within Australia continue to grow and e-commerce is reshaping the marketplace, including greater potential for illegal online trade.

Exotic animal diseases are now in close proximity to Australia, such as the recent spread of foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease in Indonesia and African swine fever in Asia.

Likewise, incursion and establishment of khapra beetle could devastate our grain industry's access to export markets.

Warming temperatures and extreme weather events are increasing the vulnerability of primary production and natural systems to pest and diseases invasion.

Pest and disease ranges are expected to shift and expand and environmental disruptions open up spaces for pests to establish.

South Australia needs to protect and be able to demonstrate its healthy biosecurity status.

Having biosecurity systems for traceability and product assurance supports access to valuable markets for South Australian produce.

Our primary industries, agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, and forestry need to be protected from the effects of significant pest and diseases and contaminants.

Just as importantly, we need to be able to protect South Australia's unique and natural environments and our people from biosecurity impacts.

The Biosecurity Bill is intended as a framework legislation.

It sets the overarching aims, rules, and regulatory and compliance tools that can be used.

Once the Bill is passed, a further process is required to develop the regulations and other supporting instruments, guidance documents and educational materials.

Details in the regulations would be developed in consultation with affected stakeholders as is standard practice.

The Bill introduces new terms in South Australia, which are important in understanding how the Bill will work.

It takes a risk-based approach and these terms are used in relation to biosecurity risks.

To summarise, biosecurity risks arise from the interactions between three things: biosecurity matter, carriers of biosecurity matter, and the ways people deal with those.

Biosecurity matter includes any living thing, part of a living thing, or a product of these, for example: plants, animals, and fruit.

Humans are an important exclusion from the definition of biosecurity matter.

Biosecurity matter also includes pests, diseases, and contaminants of animals and plants and their products.

Examples of contaminants are heavy metals and pesticide residues that are above maximum limits.

A carrier is anything capable of having biosecurity matter on it, attached to it, or contained within it.

Animals and plants and their products can carry or contain pest diseases and contaminants, and hence they can be both biosecurity matter and carriers.

Other examples of carriers are farm machinery, boats, muddy boots, and luggage.

A dealing is an interaction with biosecurity matter and carriers.

There are many ways that people can deal with biosecurity matter and carriers on a daily basis.

Examples of dealings include farming livestock, growing crops, moving animal and plant products, and doing research on pests or diseases.

The draft Biosecurity Bill is about preventing, responding to, and managing biosecurity risks in South Australia.

A biosecurity risk is the likelihood of biosecurity impacts occurring; that is the negative economic, environmental, or social effects arising from biosecurity matter or carriers.

Examples of biosecurity impacts include livestock sickness or death, crop yield loss, products made unfit for market, harm to native animals or plants, and damage to infrastructure or a public danger.

The inclusion of contaminants in the Bill relates to situations where they may pose a risk of a biosecurity impact.

I'll now run through some of the tools available in the Bill.

The draft Biosecurity Bill provides a range of regulatory tools to guide, direct, or if necessary, enforce actions to manage biosecurity risks and impacts.

A choice of tools gives flexibility to ensure each different biosecurity issue can be addressed most appropriately.

Some of these tools will be familiar and have similar equivalence in current Acts while others are new.

The Bill also removes inconsistency between the Livestock and Plant Health Acts in how pests, diseases, or contaminants may be managed.

So I'll now briefly talk through these tools.

The first is a provision for ministerial declarations.

The Minister could declare biosecurity matter or carriers to be prohibited matter.

That's matter that can't be brought into the state.

This is similar to current pest and disease listing processes under the Plant Health Act, Livestock Act, and Fisheries Management Act.

The second type of ministerial direction refers to prohibited dealings.

That's a practice or interaction that may give rise to a biosecurity impact if it weren't prohibited.

An example would be feeding swill to pigs.

Thirdly, the Minister could declare regulated dealings.

This is an interaction or practice for which any registration is mandatory, such as the current registration requirements for the keeping of livestock and the commercial import of plant and plant products into the state.

A dealing would be regulated to ensure that every person undertaking that practice takes similar measures to prevent or manage biosecurity risks.

If people didn't apply these measures, then a whole industry could be placed at risk.

The Bill has an adaptable approach in using zones and associated biosecurity measures to regulate a biosecurity risk in an affected area.

Zones are scalable and range in size from premises, to localities, to regions, to across the state.

Once a declaration is made, specific measures can be enforced which require affected persons to do certain things.

For example, apply a preventative treatment for a pest or to not do things, for example, not move a potential carrier into the zone.

This is one of the controls in the Bill that ensures that powers are available when required and within the appropriate approvals.

At the top of the pyramid is the emergency order.

An emergency order may be declared by the Chief Executive to be used where there is a risk of significant biosecurity impact.

Under an emergency order, additional measures may be put in place to effectively respond to that emergency situation.

For example, an incursion of a potentially devastating disease like foot and mouth disease would require an immediate livestock standstill as well as restriction on the movement of animal products, until the location and extent of those diseases could be determined.

This would be achieved using powers that are enabled by the declaration of the Chief Executive.

The second level of order is the control order.

A Chief Officer, either the Chief Veterinary Officer or Chief Plant Protection Officer, may make an order to establish a control zone and implement control measures.

For example, it's envisaged that a response to a fruit fly outbreak would be through a control order.

At the base of the pyramid, we have the biosecurity zone.

A biosecurity zone is intended for long-term actions, for example, where a pest or disease is only established in part of the state and permanent measures are required to prevent its spread elsewhere.

For example, Kangaroo Island has restrictions on the entry of potato and potato farming equipment to the island, to protect the local industry's disease-free status.

An important tool available to authorised officers is the biosecurity direction, and there are two types.

A general biosecurity direction proposed under the Bill would allow a Chief Officer to issue a general direction that may apply to the public or groups of persons more broadly.

For example, a general direction could be that a certain uncooked seafood can't be used as bait, due to the risk of disease introduction into South Australian waters, and that direction would apply to everyone who might be going fishing.

In contrast, an authorised officer could issue a person an individual direction, so that they don't contravene a requirement under the Act.

For example, that could be required to take measures to destroy a pest listed as prohibited matter which has been found on their property.

The draft Biosecurity Bill introduces the concept of a biosecurity duty.

This draws on the concept of biosecurity as a shared responsibility and will require everyone to play a part in protecting South Australia from the impacts of pests, diseases, and contaminants.

Central to this is that every person has a legal general biosecurity duty to prevent, eliminate, minimise, control, or manage biosecurity risks when dealing with biosecurity matter or a carrier.

It is proposed to be an offense under the Bill if a person or organisation does not comply with a general biosecurity duty, subsequently causing a significant biosecurity impact.

People will need to make themselves aware of how to fulfill their duty by referring to guidelines, advisory material, codes of practice, industry standards, or any specified biosecurity requirement for a particular biosecurity matter or carrier under the Act.

A separate biosecurity duty proposed under the Bill is a legal requirement to notify PIRSA of a biosecurity event.

This could be there's observed or suspected detection of prohibited matter, an incursion of a new pest or disease, or a contaminant incident.

If a person notices such an example, they're required to notify PIRSA so appropriate action can be taken.

This is similar to existing provisions relating to notifiable pests or diseases.

The development of educational materials will be important to assist people in understanding their duty and will strengthen the biosecurity system through a combination of education and enforcement.

Conditions on permits and registrations, and audits, have application throughout the proposed Bill.

For example, a permit could be granted to a person allowing them to do something which is not allowed under the Biosecurity Act, such as a prohibited dealing.

The person would then need to comply with the conditions imposed on the permit.

At a later point in time, a biosecurity auditor appointed under the Act could do a compliance audit to verify that the person is meeting the conditions of that permit.

Audits could be undertaken on registered entities to assess compliance with the conditions of their registration.

The draft Biosecurity Bill has been designed with current and future traceability  and market access requirements in mind.

The fundamental components of trade and traceability included in the draft Biosecurity Bill are registration, identification codes, certification, records of movement, and auditing.

Registration will be a requirement for any person who engages in a regulated dealing.

As with permits, conditions can be placed on registrations.

The Bill allows for the continuation of identification codes under regulations.

It provides the flexibility for a person, property, or biosecurity matter to be allocated with an identification code.

For South Australian cattle, sheep, and goat owners, this is akin to the current requirement to be registered and to have a property identification code enabling participation in the National Livestock Identification Scheme.

The Biosecurity Bill also enables co-regulation with industries to bring efficiencies and share biosecurity responsibilities.

Under the Bill, both PIRSA and third parties can be accreditation authorities able to accredit biosecurity certifiers to certify the produce meets biosecurity conditions for entry to specific markets.

Accreditation authorities can also appoint biosecurity auditors to regularly check on certifiers and certifications.

For South Australian horticulture, this is similar to plant health certificates currently provided by PIRSA inspectors or plant health assurance certificates provided by accredited authorities under the National Interstate Certification Assurance Scheme.

Moving to other provisions of the Bill, the Dog Fence Act is proposed to be updated and included in the Biosecurity Bill.

Its formal inclusion in the Bill recognises the dog fence role as an important biosecurity infrastructure for the state.

The draft Bill streamlines processes compared to the current Dog Fence Act, such as a shift away from the Governor to the Minister for key approvals and greater flexibility for the Minister to declare alteration, moving, or removal of existing parts of the dog fence.

The draft Bill proposes to replace the largely ineffective Impounding Act with straightforward provisions for the management of stray livestock.

Under the proposed Bill, a person could detain stray livestock on their land if they're considered to pose a biosecurity risk.

Efforts must be made to identify and contact the owner.

If unsuccessful, then the Bill provides for the sale or destruction of the stock and the recovery of costs incurred.

There is also a provision in the Bill to establish facilities for the detention of stray livestock through an agreement between the landowner and the Chief Veterinary Officer.

There are a range of other key provisions in the draft Biosecurity Bill to be aware of.

Extraterritorial power's included, so the South Australian Biosecurity Act could potentially be forced interstate or online, addressing the growth on online sales.

This would enable earlier intervention in preventing biosecurity risks to the state such as the selling of goods to South Australia that are or contain prohibited matter.

The Bill provides for approved biosecurity programs to prevent, eliminate, minimise, control, or manage a biosecurity risk or impact.

Such programs could be proposed by an industry or community body to the Minister, or they could be a government program initiated by the Minister.

The Bill also enables consistent penalties for biosecurity offences, whether these relate to plant health, animal health, or environmental biosecurity.

The Bill also ensures strong penalties that are proportionate to the severe and long-term economic, environmental, and social costs of pests, diseases, and contaminants.

The most severe offences in the Bill apply to malicious, reckless, or negligent behaviour that could cause significant harm to the community, the environment, and industry, and/or the economy of the state.