To ensure equity and transparency, the Australian Federal Government made changes to its Biosecurity Protection Levy following months of protests from the agriculture sector.

The biosecurity tax will be set according to an industry’s average share of gross agriculture, fisheries and forestry production over a rolling three-year period. Originally, the tax a 10% levy to be added to the 2020/21 agricultural levy rates already charged to farmers. For every 1% of gross agricultural, fisheries and forestry production, an industry will contribute a total of $500,000 towards the tax. This means the dairy industry will pay a total of $3m in biosecurity tax as it contributes around 6% of gross value production.