June 14, 2023
Shadow Agriculture Minister Tony Perrett says the State Government has slashed Budget funding for biosecurity from $231 million in 2022-23 to $151 million in 2023-24.
“This Budget has left rural and regional communities behind at a time when they have never needed more support,” Mr Perrett said.
“A failure to fund biosecurity year after year has left Queensland at the mercy of fire ants, with the pests continuing to spread across the State.”
Two fire ant nests were recently detected and destroyed at Kleinton, near Toowoomba.
“To make matters worse Minister (Mark) Furner is closing down the Cape York Biosecurity Facility in Coen, at a time biosecurity threats to our State have never been so serious.
“If foot and mouth disease was to be undetected, it could wipe out the beef industry and drive up the cost of living.”
* * *
(Photo: LinkedIn)
In contrast, the Queensland Farmers Federation (QFF) said the Budget had delivered for regional Queensland.
The QFF said direct support for Queensland agriculture included a $550 million investment, including fire ant eradication funding, and new permanent positions to protect biosecurity.
“Investing in biosecurity is ultimately an investment in all Queenslanders and we welcome funding allocations to further uplift our biosecurity preparedness and capability,” QFF CEO Jo Sheppard said.
“It is critical that we build biosecurity capacity at a national and State level but also at a regional and local level and to achieve that we need strong engagement with industry and all relevant stakeholders.
“QFF looks forward to working closely with the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity Queensland to ensure effective outcomes on the ground and across all areas of Queensland agriculture.”
The QFF was “keen to unpack” details about a Budget allocation to develop and implement the Queensland Freight Action Plan 2023-2025.
An additional $53.5 million in 2023-24 had also been allocated for the Industry Partnership Program to incentivise emerging industries, target supply chain gaps, create jobs and strengthen Queensland’s economy.
“Supply chain disruptions have been very challenging for all agricultural industries and QFF are looking for further details around this program to better understand what opportunities it might support for building supply chain resilience for agriculture,” Ms Sheppard said.
Resilience support was also announced for farmers to prepare for future droughts including a $5 million allocation for relief from fixed charges for pumping water during periods of drought.
The budget also confirmed $22.8 million over two years to continue the government’s commitment to discount irrigation prices by 15 per cent for one additional year.
This is a result of the decision to cap all Sunwater and Seqwater irrigation prices at Queensland Competition Authority assessed cost recovery levels from 2023–24.