Labor’s legislation on a new fresh food tax has been introduced in Parliament, in a move that will increase the cost of living and hurt Mallee families and farmers.

Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster said Labor’s biosecurity protection levy will charge farmers for the biosecurity costs of importers bringing their product to Australia.

“Labor’s new fresh food tax is an extra cost that will hurt Mallee families even more at the checkout,” Dr Webster said, “Labor is treating Australian farmers with contempt and unfortunately farmers will inevitably be forced to pass new costs onto consumers.”

Labor will set the tax rate as a proportion of an industry’s average gross value of production over a three-year period.  However, the policy follows a disingenuous consultation process and is expensive, confusing, risky and flawed, putting the entire voluntary levy system at risk.

Labor’s legislation lacks any detail of the cost to 7,200 farmers in Mallee or how the levy will be collected. It is not clear what industry will have to pay.

More than 50 agricultural representative groups previously signed a joint letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressing unified opposition about the new tax.

Mallee farmer Bev Walker from Dunolly said the biosecurity levy would also fail to provide farmers any benefit.

“It’s a tax we wouldn’t have had, we are already paying levies,” Mrs Walker said, “The people importing food are the ones that should be paying this levy. When you are slugged another levy it’s not fair, especially when farmers are already doing it so tough right now.”

Dr Webster agreed the double-taxation is unfair and said Labor should drop the tax, urging the Government to instead mirror the Coalition’s importer container levy.

“Labor is out of its depth and doesn’t understand agriculture, horticulture and our fisheries, yet they are determined to tax our farmers and prioritise importers.”

“The Nationals stand by our farmers and will fight this senseless new tax.”