Senator BOB COLLINS(12.45 p.m.) —It will be necessary to speak only to the first of these eight bills. The seven following bills currently before the Senate are consequential bills. They are part of a package and simply set the levy rates on the particular industries involved that are required to fund the Australian Animal Health Council itself.

The Australian Animal Health Council bill and the seven consequential bills are being introduced into the chamber at this particular time because they are non-controversial bills—that is, there is no disagreement on them. It does not mean that they are unimportant bills. I do want to draw the Senate's attention to the fact that we are passing very significant legislation today for Australia that is not just of relevance to Australia's primary industry. It is of major relevance to the national economy, to the national wellbeing of this country and to the environment of Australia in a broader sense.

I had the great privilege—and, indeed, it is a great privilege—to be the minister who had the carriage of this legislation through ARMCANZ. I mention that simply to acknowledge the full-blooded support the Commonwealth government received from the states and from all of the state ministers for primary industry, all of whom recognised the vital importance these bills constitute today for Australia.

Australia is one of the great trading nations of the world. We are an island continent. With the level of trade increasing—and I hope it will continue to increase at an expediential rate every year—Australia needs to be prepared against an outbreak of an exotic animal disease which could absolutely devastate multibillion dollar industries for Australia not just in the immediate term or even in the medium term but in some cases in a way which might never be altogether successfully addressed. Those concerns can never be overstated.

The Australian Animal Health Council, which this bill will give life to, is going to be the foremost national body—and it will be recognised internationally with that status—to stand between Australia and that prospect. It is also being set up to deal with day-to-day problems in respect of our pro-active position on trade. I am talking here about problems such as chemical residue in the commodities that Australia produces into our all-important export markets.

It was absolutely essential that this national approach be taken. It was a complex matter. Many bureaucrats from both the Commonwealth and state bureaucracies cooperated fully over a long period of time in dealing with the whole range of complex issues that are normally there in this federation of ours to get the agreement necessary to put all of these things into place at both the federal level and the state and territory level. That level of cooperation was there and that is why we have got this legislation here today—the formal agreement being reached in ARMCANZ in August last year, from memory.

The other thing that needs to be noted that is also important is that the council subsumes the vitally important responsibilities of the body formerly known as EXANDIS—the Exotic Animal Disease Preparedness Consultative Council. The legislation that established EXANDIS lapsed in December last year. This body subsumes the responsibilities of EXANDIS.

In its final annual report, EXANDIS urged all governments and industry to maintain through this body an extremely high level of continued activity at protecting Australia against the outbreaks of exotic diseases that I have just referred to.I want to pay tribute—as I am sure the government would pay tribute—to the work that was done by EXANDIS in assisting Australia to maintain those protections and in assisting in the formation of the body that we are giving birth to here today.

It is worth while pointing out because it is always a matter of topical discussion in this country—and so it should be—that, in the handover set of recommendations, if you like, contained in the final EXANDIS annual report, EXANDIS considered that foot-and-mouth disease, newcastle disease, blue tongue and classical swine fever remained the major potential exotic disease problems for this country.

As I said, all these things will always be topical. Newcastle disease obviously is in the news right now as the major concern of the Australian chicken meat industry, as there is a proposal currently before us to import chicken meat from Thailand—a country, of course, in which newcastle disease is endemic. These will always be issues of topicality in a country such as ours that depends entirely, as we do, on the health of our trade for our national economy.

There are just a few things that were recommended by EXANDIS as well that I do want to simply draw attention to very briefly. One—and it is a matter that was brought to me on a number of occasions—was the concern that EXANDIS had about the recognised current deficiency in the epidemiological database in Australia, which is needed for a totally effective disease surveillance system in this country. It was a matter that was drawn to my attention on a number of occa sions by EXANDIS during its life. It took the trouble to note in its final annual report that this is a matter that should be of continuing concern for the body that we are launching here today—the AAHC.

EXANDIS also called upon the AAHC to continue the national disease-watch hotline to facilitate reporting and investigation of any unusual animal incidents in all states and territories and to ensure that the necessary resources are made available for this service to continue. Again, I guess this is something that we are so conscious of in those areas of Australia that are so close to the countries where these diseases are endemic. Things like screw-worm fly—which, thank God, do not exist in Australia yet—are just hundreds of kilometres away from our shores. There is the never-ending potential for destructive pests such as screw-worm fly to enter Australia and cause consequent devastation to Australian industry. Of course, there is no need to canvass the never-ending potential for foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks to occur in Australia.

It is not simply luck that these diseases and pests have not arrived here. Luck has something to do with it. Luck always has something to do with it. It is, in fact—I am pleased to say—a high degree of management also that helps to prevent these diseases and pests from infesting our shores.

I said earlier that this is not and cannot be considered to be an issue that simply affects primary industry or primary producers. The introduction of a disease like newcastle disease into Australia—a disease that EXANDIS rates among that handful of half a dozen diseases of the highest exotic disease concern to Australia—would have a devastating effect on the Australian environment at large. It is a disease which, if it ever got a foothold in Australia and got into the wild population of birds in Australia, would be almost impossible thereafter to ever eradicate; it would simply become part of our disease landscape as well as those of the countries that are close to our shores.

So I say, and I will not need to speak again during this debate on the other seven bills, that this is extremely important legislation that we are passing through the Senate. I do want to once again express my thanks on behalf of the opposition to a very dedicated group of public servants and bureaucrats, at both state and federal level, that has worked extremely hard to see the implementation of the Australian Animal Health Council. It has a vitally important role to carry out for Australia, and I wish it well. I certainly pledge the complete support of the Australian Labor Party, the opposition in the Senate, in terms of its future operations.

I will conclude on one small point of detail. There was some concern expressed, and there was some lack of certainty, about whether the Australian Animal Health Council would have to, or would be required to, report on its operations to the parliament through the estimates committee process. That matter has been resolved—certainly to my satisfaction. The answer to that particular question is yes, it will. The payments that are made to it—by this legislation, I might add—that constitute those levy collections do, in fact, provide the grounds for that reporting to be done. That is an important matter for all members of this parliament. They can be assured that the Australian Animal Health Council will, if it is required to do so, appear before Senate estimates committees to give reports on its progress.