A report and dissenting viewpoint have been released from the Rural and Regional Affairs Transport Legislation Committee inquiry into the Biosecurity Protection Levy bills.
This follows a short public consultation period inviting submissions and set of public hearings, where Grain Producers Australia maintained its strong opposition to the flawed and unfair proposed tax.
Grain Central reported that the committee report recommended that the legislation be passed, but Liberal National Party members of the committee's recommendation was for the Senate to block the proposal.
GPA Chief Executive Officer Colin Bettles said the committee's claims that consultation on the biosecurity policy was sufficient were "grossly misleading".
“[S]ix months after this ‘consultation’ process, a new biosecurity tax was announced and suddenly Australian farmers are being told, not asked, to replace taxpayers and stump up another $50 million in a new levy/tax that’s actually going into consolidated revenue,” Mr Bettles said.
“The case to establish why all Australian farmers should pay more in taxes, to fund the Agriculture Department’s budget, was never established and still hasn’t been.”
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