Labor’s legislation on a new fresh food tax has been introduced in Parliament, in a move that will increase the cost of living and hurt families and farmers in Flynn.
Federal Member for Flynn, Colin Boyce said Labor’s biosecurity protection levy will charge farmers for the biosecurity costs of importers bringing their product to Australia.
“Labor’s new fresh food tax is an extra cost that will hurt families in Flynn even more at the checkout,” Mr Boyce said.
“Labor is treating Australian farmers with contempt and unfortunately farmers will inevitably be forced to pass new costs onto consumers.”
Labor will set the tax rate as a proportion of an industry’s average gross value of production over a three-year period.
However, the policy follows a disingenuous consultation process and is expensive, confusing, risky, and flawed, putting the entire voluntary levy system at risk.
Labor’s legislation lacks any detail of the cost to 4,012 farmers in Flynn or how the levy will be collected. It is not clear what industry will have to pay.
Labor’s legislation also states the rate of the levy can be set to nil in case the cost of collecting the levy in some sectors exceeds the revenue raised from it.
More than 50 agricultural representative groups previously signed a joint letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressing unified opposition about the new tax.
“In what parallel universe would any Australian government tax their own farmers, to pay for foreigners to bring their products into this country” Mr Boyce said.
“Labor needs to listen to the strong concerns raised by all Australian producers and their representative groups by scrapping the new tax immediately.
“Labor still needs to come up with exact costs and the rate they will be taxed. This has created more confusion and anxiety.
“Labor’s new tax is messy and complicated and not even Labor can work it out.
“Labor is out of its depth and doesn’t understand the industry, yet is still determined to tax our farmers and prioritise importers.”
Mr Boyce said Labor should drop the tax and instead mirror the Coalition’s importer container levy.
“The Nationals stand by our farmers and will fight this senseless new tax,” Mr Boyce said.
“Agents who are overburdened already will have very little time to collect the levy – or the government’s tax – and how to do so correctly,” Mr Baldwin said.
“There is immense and utter confusion. If the biosecurity protection levy legislation suggests the collection agent will also have to provide the levy paper with an invoice, this will create a considerable regulatory burden.”
