The planned introduction of the new clearance levy to fund biosecurity is welcome news for forest owners, but possibly not for travellers on private aircraft or cruise ships.
“It is important that those who benefit from travel and tourism pay their share of keeping our farms, forests, orchards and national parks safe from pest incursions,” says Forest Owners Association biosecurity chairperson Dave Cormack.
“The costs borne by individual travellers will be small, but collectively they will make a big contribution,” says Cormack.
The levy announced by primary industries minister Nathan Guy and customs minister Nicky Wagner followed public consultation.
It comes into effect on 1 January 2016 and will be NZ$18.76 + GST for air travellers and those arriving and departing on a private craft, and NZ$22.80 + GST for cruise passengers.
Cormack says the forest industry, as well as horticulture and livestock farming, are highly dependent on good biosecurity.
“There are insects and diseases out there that could devastate plantation forestry, in the same way that foot and mouth would be catastrophic for livestock farming,” says Cormack.
“The forest industry has funded its forest health surveillance scheme for many decades. This scheme is now being refined using international expertise, to ensure we are monitoring the areas of greatest risk as well as keeping a close watch on a cross-section of forests nationwide,” he says.
“As part of this refinement we have also integrated our surveillance with the biosecurity operations of the Ministry for Primary Industries, which tend to focus on ports and places like national park access points where travellers unpack their tramping and camping gear,” he says,
Cormack says the Forest Owners and Farm Forestry Associations are in the final stages of negotiating a Government Industry Agreement, which will detail where responsibilities and costs will lie in the event that there is the need to combat a pest or disease incursion.
