{"id":331999,"date":"2023-05-12T12:01:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T02:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=331999"},"modified":"2023-05-12T12:01:52","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T02:01:52","slug":"nats-vow-to-scrap-biosecurity-levy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2023\/05\/12\/nats-vow-to-scrap-biosecurity-levy\/","title":{"rendered":"Nats Vow To Scrap Biosecurity Levy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Member for Maranoa David Littleproud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

May 12, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

National Party Leader and Member for Maranoa David Littleproud has promised a future Coalition Federal Government will scrap the biosecurity levy introduced in this week’s Federal Budget.<\/p>\n

The Budget allocated an extra $1 billion for biosecurity, but as AgForce stated on Wednesday, it came with a sting.<\/p>\n

From July 2024, a levy will be introduced on producers equivalent to 10 per cent of their 2020-21 levy rates.<\/p>\n

This means producers of grass-fed cattle will pay an extra 50 cents per head and a cotton producer will pay an extra 22.5 cents per 227kg bale, on top of their current levy payments.<\/p>\n

Mr Littleproud said a future Coalition Government would abolish this levy, which the LNP has described as a “new fresh food tax on farmers”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLabor\u2019s Budget measure is a new tax on farmers and food, meaning farmers will have to pass it on to consumers, resulting in higher grocery prices at the checkout,\u201d Mr Littleproud said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would any Australian government tax their own farmers, to pay for foreigners to bring their products into this country?”<\/p>\n

Mr Littleproud said the former Coalition government had been “in the process of delivering a cost recovery model, where importers would pay a levy, commensurate to the risk”.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of taxing Australian farmers, we will establish an \u2018importer container levy\u2019, as recommended by the independent Craik Biosecurity review.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder our plan, importers of foreign products will pay for the biosecurity risk they pose, not Australian farmers.”<\/p>\n