Grain Producers Australia has flagged the possibility of reallocating a minute proportion of the grower levies paid to the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) to Plant Health Australia (PHA) to help fund the federal government's increased biosecurity program without the need for a new levy.
In its submission to a review into the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Bill 2023 GPA raised the possibility of reallocating 0.06 per cent of GRDC levies to PHA to help fund biosecurity projects.
The government has proposed a new levy on the agriculture sector to raise $50 million dollars which it says will be used to help fund biosecurity projects.
Critics of the new levy from within the ag sector have said it amounts to a new tax, not a levy, with the funds going into consolidated revenue rather than being directly allocated to biosecurity.