The Department of Agriculture (DA) is currently reviewing their cost recovery arrangements for the exporting of live animals, which also includes reproductive products.
As part of this process review Harness Racing Australia (HRA) has forwarded submissions to the Department Secretary, Dr. Paul Grimes, Minister for Agriculture and the Parliamentary Secretary highlighting a number of concerns including the unreasonable consultative processes adopted during this review process. There have also been a number of meetings and phone discussions held in the past week to discuss the content of the documents supplied.
Whilst there has been some movement in terms of projected fee increases, HRA will continue to lobby to have any increases deferred until the planned comprehensive review of the cost structures, fees and charging mechanisms for the 2015/16 year is completed.
The area of live animal export and reproduction materials is important for our industry and HRA will continue to lobby to ensure that the best interests of the industry are protected.
DA are soon to publish a Cost Recovery Impact Statement on their website and a link will be provided to this so that industry wide comment can be made.
To provide feedback and opinions on this issue please contact HRA Operations Manager, Gary Kairn, on gkairn@hra.harness.org.au or 03 9227 3003 urgently.
