The Minns Government's newly released biosecurity plan will be all talk and no action if it doesn't follow through with adequate funding to actually keep our primary industries safe.
So far Labor has failed at every hurdle when it comes to the multiple threats we are facing, with red imported fire ants spreading deeper into the state, cattle tick worsening in the north, varroa mite impacting our bees, and foot and mouth disease knocking at the door.
Yet when it comes to the budget, protecting the Ag sector has never been a priority under Minister Moriarty's watch, with three years' worth of neglect leaving NSW well behind the eight ball.
The enormous black hole in biosecurity funding, combined with mass staff cuts at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has weakened our state's frontline protections, and Labor needs to come clean about how much money will go towards implementing this plan.
It also doesn't make sense that the first action point in the plan is 'to train at least 200 additional staff' when Minister Moriarty has just signed off on the removal of 165 people from her department.
Losing those jobs is not just a loss in headcount but diminishing years of knowledge and experience in a range of fields, including key people who have led our emergency response to multiple dangerous incursions.
We also need more detail on what role the new State Biosecurity Committee will play and why it is necessary to add another level of bureaucracy if the Minister is doing her job and engaging with communities and stakeholders like she should be.
This is a shell of a strategy that the government was forced to finally come up with after pressure from the Natural Resources Commission, and it needs to do more to boost our state's biosecurity before it's too late.
