The final piece of the biosecurity shared responsibility puzzle was put in place last week with the passing of amendments to the Biosecurity Act 2014. The amendments, moved in parliament last week, enable industry bodies to establish third party accreditation schemes for interstate market access.
These changes enable industry to assist growers to meet their interstate market access obligations rather than relying on government bodies to undertake certification.
The production horticulture industry has been watching with interest the development of the Nursery and Garden Industry Australia’s BioSecure HACCP scheme which can be used to accredit nursery and other businesses to issue biosecurity certificates, audit those businesses to ensure they are meeting requirements, and suspend, amend and cancel accreditations where there is evidence of non-compliance.
BioSecure HACCP has the capacity to save growers hundreds of thousands of dollars and has been heralded as a major innovation for the nursery industry.
Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF), of which Growcom is a member, has been working with the state government to ensure industry-led accreditation schemes and biosecurity assurance systems such as BioSecure HACCP were able to be recognised under the new Biosecurity legislation.
The production horticulture sector, through the vegetable levy, is in the initial stages of investigating a similar system. Growcom’s Hort360 Best Management Practice (BMP) could potentially act as the gateway to a production horticulture biosecurity HACCP program.
Growcom congratulates the Queensland government for listening to industry and committing to the concept of shared biosecurity responsibility. Growcom firmly supports a system that allows industry-led BMPs to further enhance improve the way our sector operates and meets its community obligations.
Gary Sansom AM
Finally, Growcom would like to join the chorus of those paying tribute to the late Gary Sansom AM. As founding member of QFF, a former QFF president and life member he was a passionate and dedicated advocate for the agricultural industry. The Queensland horticulture industry thanks Gary for his service and offer our deepest condolences to Gary’s wife Julie, his family and friends.
