14 November 2023
Who does this notice affect?
This notice affects biosecurity industry participants who hold approved arrangements under the Biosecurity Act 2015.
What has changed?
Approved arrangements enable businesses to carry out activities to manage biosecurity risks associated with their business activities. Biosecurity industry participants are required to comply with their approved arrangements and the conditions and requirements to which those arrangements are subject. Failure to comply is an offence under the Biosecurity Act.
Changes have recently been made to the Biosecurity Act to increase the range of options that the department can use in responding to noncompliance. The changes will facilitate proportionate and efficient responses to noncompliance.
Summary of key changes
- More flexible notice of intention: In response to noncompliance, the department can currently issue a notice of intention to vary, suspend or revoke an approved arrangement. However, the department can only propose to take just one of these actions. Under the recent change to the Biosecurity Act, the department may now elect to nominate more than one potential action in a single notice of intention. At the end of the assessment of the matter, the department may take any (or none) of the actions nominated in the notice of intention.
- New notice of reprimand: If the department has given a biosecurity industry participant a notice of intention to vary, suspend and/or revoke an arrangement but the department ultimately decides to not take any of those actions, the department may instead issue the biosecurity industry participant with a notice of reprimand under the Biosecurity Act. This notice of reprimand may be considered by the department during its decision-making on matters such as subsequent applications for approved arrangements.
- New strict liability offences: New strict liability offences have been added to the Biosecurity Act. Strict liability offences are not required to involve intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence. For example, when driving a vehicle, exceeding the prescribed speed limit is considered to be a strict liability offence because even if the driver was unaware of the speed limit or did not intentionally exceed it, they can be charged and penalised based solely on the act of speeding.
The new strict liability offences now sit alongside the existing fault-based offences, which remain as options depending on the circumstances and severity of the particular offence. Fault-based offences require intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence to be established. In other words, a person must have acted deliberately knowing that what they were doing was not compliant or they must have acted so carelessly that they would have known that their actions would result in noncompliance. Importantly, if fault-based civil offences are disputed, they need to be heard in court.
The new strict liability offences for offences committed specifically by biosecurity industry participants carry a maximum penalty of 60 penalty units. Penalties associated with strict liability offences will be imposed using infringement notices. Again, this is similar to receiving a traffic infringement notice for not complying with the road rules.
The penalties for offences committed specifically by biosecurity industry participants are shown in the table below.
| Offence | Existing fault-based offence | Existing civil penalty provision | NEW strict liability offence |
|---|---|---|---|
Biosecurity industry participant:
|
Imprisonment for 5 years or 1,000 penalty units, or both. | 1,000 penalty units. | 60 penalty units. |
| Biosecurity industry participant engages in conduct that contravenes a direction given by a biosecurity officer in relation to the operation of an approved arrangement. | Imprisonment for 5 years or 1,000 penalty units, or both. | 1,000 penalty units. | 60 penalty units. |
Note: The value of a penalty unit is prescribed by the Crimes Act 1914. On 1 July 2023, the value of a penalty unit increased from $275 to $313.
In addition to the offences shown in the table above, there are other strict liability offences have been added to the Biosecurity Act. The Biosecurity Act is available at www.legislation.gov.au.
Further information
Further information is available on the department’s website. Alternatively, please call 1800 900 090 or send your questions to us using our online form.