New biosecurity legislation to advance SA passes Parliament

As part of the Malinauskas Government’s legislative reform agenda, the Biosecurity Bill 2024 adopts a modern legislative approach to preventing, eliminating, and controlling biosecurity risks.

The new legislation consolidates existing Acts including the Plant Health Act 2009, Livestock Act 1997, Dog Fence Act 1946 and Impounding Act 1920. It will help improve consistency across animal, plant, and environmental biosecurity management and provide a flexible framework to deal with emerging and ongoing biosecurity challenges. It also makes related amendments to the Fisheries Management Act 2007 and Phylloxera and Grape Industry Act 1995.

Importantly, the Bill features the concept of shared responsibility for biosecurity across industry, government, and the community. Everyone will have a general biosecurity duty to take reasonable measures to prevent, eliminate, minimise, control, or manage biosecurity risks, recognising that everyone has a role to play in protecting our state.

Significantly for the livestock industry, the Bill formalises into legislation the State Government’s long-term commitment to match prescribed industry contributions that support the Dog Fence Board’s management and maintenance of the 2,150-kilometre South Australian section of the Dog Fence.

Biosecurity is a key enabler of market access, providing for the safe supply of agricultural, fisheries, and forestry products to local, interstate, and overseas markets. This includes the use of traceability systems to verify the health status of such goods, their point of origin, and their movement through the supply chain.

There are also vital environmental and social benefits in protecting our unique flora and fauna, natural environments, culture and public amenity from a wide range of biosecurity threats.

The need for robust biosecurity legislation has been highlighted by recent biosecurity incidents in SA and interstate, including:

• the detection and management of Abalone Viral Ganglioneuritis in the South East
• the ongoing fight against fruit fly
• the recent detection of Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus in the Northern Adelaide Plains
• the presence of Avian Influenza and Varroa Mite interstate.

The Bill is the result of extensive development and in-depth consultation over the past 5 years with feedback from stakeholders and the public carefully considered and incorporated.