VETERAN corporate chairman David Trebeck has been announced as the chairman of the biosecurity levy steering committee.
Mr Trebeck currently chairs Australia’s Oyster Coast Ltd and has been a non-executive director of six ASX-listed companies during the past two decades, including GrainCorp and Incitec Pivot.
He also has links with shipping going back to the mid-1970s.
The steering committee also includes Paul Zalai from the Freight & Trade Alliance; Margie Thomson from the Cement Industry Federation, Mike Gallacher from Ports Australia, Mike Sousa from Qube Holdings, Rod Nairn AM from Shipping Australia, Brian Lovell from the Australian Federation of International Forwarders and Tony Mahar from the National Farmers Federation.
The committee is expected to design the levy and assist with its implementation.
“Australia’s border biosecurity protects our food supply, 300,000 jobs, the $60 billion agriculture industry and our way of life,” Minister Littleproud said.
“Those creating biosecurity risk should contribute fairly to addressing that risk, remembering pests and diseases arrive on the hulls and decks of ships and not just in the imported product itself.
“If the taxpayer alone bears the burden of protecting Australia then companies being bailed out by the taxpayer are unlikely to take our biosecurity seriously.” Minister Littleproud said he was also glad Labor counterpart Joel Fitzgibbon had supported the rationale for a levy.
