Last week, a contingent of Ministerial appointees to the Biosecurity Levy Steering Committee were hosted by the Hon. Bridget McKenzie (Deputy Leader of the Nationals / Minister for Agriculture) at a function at Parliament House, Canberra. The Minister  thanked the committee for its report and for the collaborative approach in making its recommendations under the leadership of chair, David Trebeck - refer HERE L to R - Paul Zalai (FTA / APSA), Margie Thomson (Cement Industry Federation), Stuart McFarlane (AFIF), Minister McKenzie, Rod Nairn (SAL), Mike Gallacher (Ports Australia), Peter Gneil (AIP) and Dimity McCredie (Cruise Lines Intl Assocn.) Ministerial response - an alternate biosecurity levy The Minister has today (11 December 2019) publicly responded to the eight (8) recommendations made by the Biosecurity Levy Steering Committee - available HERE In doing so, the Minister has officially declared that the Biosecurity Import Levy, as announced in the 2018-19 Budget, will not proceed. This does mean that it has gone away, simply that it will be replaced by an "alternate biosecurity levy"... stay tuned for more !! Increase in cost recovery fees Importantly, this announcement about the Biosecurity Import Levy should not be confused with an increase in cost recovery fees that has also been announced today by the Department of Agriculture - refer HERE  NOTE: Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) will be participating in the Department of Agriculture Cargo Consultative Committee (DCCC) meeting tomorrow to gain more detail on this unexpected increase on existing cost recovery fees. Paul Zalai -  Director and Co-Founder, FTA / Secretariat, APSA