EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Quarantine Act 1908
Quarantine Amendment Proclamation 2006 (No. 7)
The Quarantine Proclamation 1998 (‘the Quarantine Proclamation’) provides the legislative basis for controlling the entry of animals, plants and other goods of quarantine concern into Australia, and for controlling the movement of animals, plants or other goods of quarantine interest between different parts of the Australian mainland.
Subsection 13(1) of the Quarantine Act 1908 (‘the Act’) provides, in part, that the
Governor-General may, by proclamation, declare or prohibit a range of matters for the purposes of the Act. The range of matters that the Governor-General may prohibit includes the introduction or importation into Australia, Christmas Island or the Cocos Islands of any disease or pest or any substance, article or thing containing or likely to contain any disease or pest; the importation into Australia, Christmas Island or the Cocos Islands of any articles or things likely, in his or her opinion, to introduce, establish or spread any disease or pest; and the importation into Australia, Christmas Island or the Cocos Islands of any animals or plants or any parts of animals or plants. The range of matters which the Governor-General may declare includes ports where particular kinds of imported goods may be landed.
Subsection 13(2) of the Act provides that the power of prohibition under section 13 of the Act extends to authorise prohibition generally, or as otherwise provided by the instrument authorising the prohibition, including prohibition either absolutely or subject to specified conditions or restrictions. Subsection 13(2A) of the Act provides that a proclamation made under subsection 13(1) of the Act may provide that the importation of a thing is prohibited unless a permit for its import is granted by a Director of Quarantine. In addition, subsection 13(2B) of the Act states that an import permit granted pursuant to a proclamation made in accordance with subsection 13(2A) may be granted subject to compliance with any conditions or requirements set out in that permit.
The Quarantine Amendment Proclamation 2006 (No. 7) replaces Schedule 5 to the Quarantine Proclamation, Permitted Seeds list with a new listing. The new Schedule 5 would list individual seed species rather than the genera, as is the current practice.
Extensive consultation was undertaken by Biosecurity Australia with 600 stakeholders, including industry associations, nurseries, cooperative research centres, Research and Development corporations, individuals, State and Commonwealth government departments and other non-government organisations.
The Quarantine Amendment Proclamation 2006 (No. 7) is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The Quarantine Amendment Proclamation 2006 (No. 7) commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments
Details of the amendments are set out below:
Section 1 provides that the name of the Proclamation is the Quarantine Amendment Proclamation 2006 (No. 7).
Section 2 provides that the proposed Proclamation commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Section 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Quarantine Proclamation 1998.
Schedule 1 - Amendments
Item 1 substitutes Schedule 5 – Permitted Seeds List. The new Schedule includes 34,730 seeds and reflects the outcome of stage 2 of the two-stage review of the permitted seeds list, undertaken by Biosecurity Australia. The purpose of the review was to protect Australia from new weed introductions and assist in maintaining Australia’s favourable pest and disease status. The review complied with Australia’s international trading obligations by ensuring that species already present in Australia are not prohibited. The new Schedule 5 replaces 2,913 genus level listings (encompassing an estimated 130,000 species worldwide) with the 30,934 species within those genera that have either been identified as being present in Australia, or have been subject to a weed assessment by Biosecurity Australia and assessed as permitted. Eleven species have been removed from the list as they are either not present in Australia, misspelt or assessed as posing a quarantine risk and thus require a permit. The effect of this amendment is be to allow the importation of listed seeds into Australia without a requirement for an import permit.