vegetables

16
Biosecurity Brief
R&D
Market &
Value Chain
Development
with Dr Kevin
Clayton-Greene
THROUGHOUT THIS YEAR, THE BIOSECURITY BRIEF HAS INVESTIGATED THE
EMERGENCY PLANT PEST RESPONSE DEED (THE DEED) AND MECHANISMS FOR
ERADICATING EMERGENCY PLANT PESTS UNDER THE DEED. WITH A FLURRY OF
EXOTIC PLANT PEST INCURSIONS OVER 2014 AND 2015, BIOSECURITY ADVISER DR
KEVIN CLAYTON-GREENE TAKES A LOOK AT EMERGENCY PLANT PEST RESPONSE
LEVIES – WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW THEY CAN BE USED TO BENEFIT INDUSTRY.
Cost benefit analyses often
find that eradication of a
pest is more beneficial than
long-term management, as
long as the pest distribution is
delimited to a contained region
and adequate control options
are available.
However, eradication of plant
pests in Australia is commonly
becoming a joint cost sharing
arrangement between industry
and government under the
Emergency Plant Pest Response
(EPPR) Deed. Within industry,
one method of meeting cost
sharing obligations is to raise an
EPPR levy.
What is the maximum
cost of an eradication
response to industry?
The Deed contains provisions
for signatories, such as
AUSVEG, to agree on a ‘ceiling’
to the amount that will be
eligible for cost sharing during
an eradication. This is known as
the Agreed Limit and can only
be exceeded with the written
agreement of the Affected
Parties.
Under the Deed, EPPs are
organised into four categories
that determine the cost sharing
split between government and
affected industry parties, based
on the public versus private
benefit of eradication. These
categories are a reflection of
where the EPP would impact
should it become established.
Category one: 100 per cent
government.
Category two: 80 per cent
government, 20 per cent
industry.
Category three: 50 per cent
government, 50 per cent
industry.
Category four: 20 per cent
government, 80 per cent
industry.
How does industry
meet its cost sharing
obligation?
The EPPR Levy option became
available since amendments
to the Plant Health Australia
(Plant Industries) Funding Act
2002 commenced on 22 June
2006. If an industry agrees to
contribute to an eradication, an
EPPR levy can be established
to meet financial liabilities for
responses under the Deed.
How does the levy work?
If a majority of industry
participants support the levy or
charge proposal, the industry
body submits the proposal to
the Federal Government for
consideration. If approved, the
levy or charge is imposed and
collected under legislation.
Industries may elect to set the
levy rate at zero, to be activated
in the event of an EPP response
or at a positive level. Apart from
an EPP eradication, an EPPR
levy may also set the levy at
a positive rate to undertake
biosecurity risk mitigation
activities, such as surveillance
and research related to EPPs.
How are EPPR levy funds
managed?
The Federal Government will
collect and forward to Plant
Health Australia (PHA) amounts
raised by the EPPR levy.
PHA is required to hold the
payments for each participating
plant industry in a separate
fund. The accumulated funds
may be applied to biosecurity
activities where support has
been provided by the industry
in accordance with the Federal
Government Levy Principles.
How are EPPR levies
currently used?
Some industries, such as the
vegetable industry, already
have an EPPR levy in place set
at zero, while other industries
have raised their EPPR levy to
a positive value to aid industry
biosecurity preparedness or
contribute to pest eradication.
Some examples of industries
with a positive EPPR levy are
included below.
• The banana industry has an
EPPR levy in place to pay the
industry share for eradication of
Banana freckle in the Northern
Territory. The current EPPR rate
is 0.75 cents per kilogram.
• The mango industry has
an EPPR levy of 0.114 cents
per kilogram that is to be used
for biosecurity preparedness
purposes.
• The honey bee industry
has an EPPR levy in place
at 2.9 cents per kilogram as
a preparedness measure for
incursions of high priority pests
such as Varroa mite, which has
not yet been found in Australia.
Specifically, the levy will fund
development of the National
Bee Biosecurity Program.
i
For more information,
contact AUSVEG.
Phone: (03) 9882 0277
Email: info@ausveg.com.au