Page 3827 - Week 12 - Thursday, 29 October 2015
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In turn, food security would be at risk from a reduction in agricultural food production. The economic impact nationally in Australia would be significant as the industry is worth $90 million a year in direct products such as honey and beeswax and 65 per cent of agricultural crops require honey bee pollination as part of production. In recent media releases, for example, the commonwealth states that the $346 million almond crop depends entirely on bees for pollination.
Clearly, there is a national interest in the management of such matters and each Australian jurisdiction contributes to this. The Australian government and state and territory governments work with industry under negotiated biosecurity agreements which provide the framework of jurisdictional obligations and commitments. The bill I introduce today meets agreed overarching obligations and commitments.
I also note that the commonwealth Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources announced in June this year that the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences will conduct a survey into baseline data to provide a profile of the physical and financial characteristics of honey bee businesses in Australia. This will add to the knowledge and information that will inform biosecurity management. Unfortunately, the survey will have limited use in the ACT, with the focus being on commercial beekeeping, which is not a general characteristic of beekeeping in the territory.
All other state jurisdictions regulate beekeeping activities. In the territory, biosecurity management and prevention is a function of the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate and it has been identified by the directorate’s biosecurity and rural services section, under Parks and Conservation, that this is an area that requires our attention.
The Animal Diseases Act, as it stands, provides the necessary powers to address biosecurity threats, including those involving bees. However, these powers are undermined by an inability to respond quickly to a bee biosecurity incident in the territory. It also challenges whether the ACT can meet national obligations in the case of an incident. Unlike other animals and stock which can be secured and quarantined, the free movement of bees requires quick action to stop a parasite or pathogen from spreading, including into populations of wild bees and native bee species.
In the case of a national incident, the territory’s ability to report and plan is restricted because of the limited knowledge about the nature and scope of beekeeping in the ACT. In Australia state registration systems provide most of the data available about beekeepers and the number of hives they own, with some additional information on commercial beekeepers provided by industry groups I note that commercial beekeepers are generally recognised as those with over 50 hives ranging up to many thousand.
There has been no registration system in Canberra since 1997, when the Apiaries Act 1928, a former commonwealth government ordinance, was repealed. The bill I introduce today will fill a gap left by the repeal of the Apiaries Act, a gap which over time has become more conspicuous given the focus on bee biosecurity and also with
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