Biosecurity Regulations 2022

Biosecurity Regulations 2022

24 October 2022

I, the Governor in and over the State of Tasmania and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, make the following regulations under the Biosecurity Act 2019.

These regulations may be cited as the Biosecurity Regulations 2022.

These regulations take effect on the day on which their making is notified in the Gazette.

In these regulations – Act means the Biosecurity Act 2019; animal fitting includes – any box, stall, cage, enclosure, tank, pen, hive, water, or other thing, that has been used for containing an animal; and any harness, saddlery, rope, net, aquarium pump, bucket, trough, bedding, utensil, implement, equipment, or other thing, that has been used in the transportation, capture, breeding, feeding, handling or keeping of an animal or animal product; animal food business means a business, enterprise or activity that consists, in whole or in part, of the commercial manufacturing, production or wholesale supply of animal food; artificial breeding of an animal means – the artificial insemination of an animal; and the implantation of an embryo in a recipient animal; and the collection, processing, handling, storing, sale or distribution of semen, ova or embryos for a purpose specified in paragraph (a) or (b); bag includes a box or other form of packaging; commercially sterile, in relation to animal food, means animal food that is free from any living organisms that are capable of growing in, or on, the animal food in the conditions to which the animal food is likely to be subjected during its storage and distribution; declared disease– see regulation 4; declared pest– see regulation 4; declared weed– see regulation 4(7); farming of an animal means keeping, hatching or raising an animal for any one or more of the following purposes:the sale or other supply of the animal while it is alive; the use of the animal for biological control, vegetation management, pollination or other similar agricultural services; the slaughtering and supply of the slaughtered animal; the harvesting of the animal or the products of the animal and the sale or other supply of the harvested animal or products; feeding, in relation to any material, includes – allowing, directing or causing the material to be fed to an animal; and if the material may be ingested by an animal, failing to prevent the animal from having access to the material; fish means any aquatic animal, whether dead or alive, of any species (other than amphibians, birds, mammals or reptiles) which, in the normal course of events, spends part or all its life in the aquatic environment; horticultural material includes any plant and any – animal product and animal fitting; and harvest-equipment, machinery, vehicle, container, pot, soil, structure, tool or other thing – that is, or has been, used to carry, hold, handle, cultivate, propagate, grow, harvest, process or produce any plant or plant product; horticulture includes any form of agriculture involving plants, including apiculture and viticulture; inland waters has the same meaning as in the Inland Fisheries Act 1995; mammal does not include a human being; old legislative scheme has the same meaning as in Part 2 of the Biosecurity (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Act 2020; oyster includes the spat and the seed of an oyster and any part of the flesh or shell of an oyster; oyster product means any animal product comprised wholly or partly of oyster; pet has the same meaning as in the Primary Produce Safety Act 2011; pet food has the same meaning as in the Primary Produce Safety Act 2011; poultry means muttonbird and any chicken, turkey, duck, squab (pigeon), goose, pheasant, quail, guinea fowl and other domesticated avian species used for the production of food for human or animal consumption; prohibited pig feed includes – any animal food, or fodder, comprising, in part or in whole, any mammal or animal product from a mammal; and any animal food, or fodder, that has come into contact with any mammal or animal product from a mammal – but does not include – any milk, milk product or by-product of milk processing that is of Australian provenance, or that has been lawfully imported into Australia for use as animal food; or tallow; or any other material or class of material declared by the Chief Veterinary Officer not to be prohibited pig feed by notice published in the Gazette; proprietor of a business means – the owner of, or the entity carrying on, the day-to-day operation of the business; or if that entity cannot be identified, the person apparently in charge of the business; quarantine place means premises or a part of premises used primarily for the quarantine of any biosecurity matter or carrier that – has been identified as posing a biosecurity risk; or is intended for export from Tasmania to another state or to Macquarie Island; or has arrived in Tasmania from another state, or from Macquarie Island, and is required under the Act or a corresponding law to be – inspected by a biosecurity certifier or authorised officer before being exported or moved from the premises to another part of Tasmania; or destroyed or treated in order to prevent, eliminate or minimise any biosecurity risk that it may pose; ratite means any emu, ostrich or cassowary; registered quarantine place means a quarantine place that is the subject of a current registration in accordance with regulation 35;Rendering Standard means the Australian Standard entitled Australian Standard for Hygienic Rendering of Animal Products AS5008:2007 published by Standards Australia on 31 December 2007, as amended or substituted from time to time; restricted animal material means animal food or material comprising, in whole or in part, a vertebrate animal or any product derived from a vertebrate animal, but does not include – animal food produced for supply to – caged birds, other than poultry; or aquarium fish; or animal food produced for supply to non-ruminant laboratory animals; or pet food for supply to non-ruminant pets; or tallow; or gelatin; or any milk, milk product, or by-product of milk processing, that is of Australian provenance or that has been lawfully imported into Australia for use as animal food; or any other material or class of material declared by the Chief Veterinary Officer not to be restricted animal material by notice published in the Gazette; ruminant means a herbivorous, mammalian animal that can acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialised stomach prior to digestion, and includes farmed stock animals such as cattle, goats, sheep and deer; ruminant food means any animal food that is intended for feeding to, or consumption by, a ruminant; salmonid means fish of the following species, in part or whole, and whether dead or alive:Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar);Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss);Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis);Brown trout (Salmo trutta); any hybrid of the species above; soil means the top layer of the earth, consisting of rock and mineral particulates that may be mixed with organic matter in which plants grow or are grown; tag means a tag that measures at least 45 millimetres by 120 millimetres; tallow means a product (including, but not limited to, a product known as tallow, yellow grease or acid oil) that contains – fats and oils from an animal that have been rendered in accordance with the Rendering Standard; or used cooking oil that is – filtered or otherwise treated to remove visible particulate matter; and contains a combination of insoluble impurities and moisture that does not exceed 2% of the volume of the product; unknown disease means an animal disease or a plant disease that is not known or identified; unknown pest means a species or subspecies of invasive pest that is not known or identified.

For the purpose of paragraph (b) of the definition of stock animal in the Act, the following animals are prescribed if the animals are kept or managed by a person, regardless of whether the animal is kept or managed for a commercial or non-commercial purpose:any bovid, camelid, equine animal, porcine animal or poultry; animals kept or managed in connection with animal racing, animal shows, rodeos, circuses and other similar events; animals kept or managed in a zoo, wildlife park, fauna park or similar premises, for the purpose of public exhibition, public education or public entertainment on payment of a fee or otherwise; animals kept for a research or educational purpose.

The Minister may, by notice published in the Gazette, declare for the purposes of these regulations any – pest that is not prohibited matter; or animal disease or plant disease that is not prohibited matter – to be a declared pest or declared disease, if the Minister is satisfied on reasonable grounds that – the pest or disease poses a biosecurity risk to Tasmania; and the declaration is necessary to prevent, eliminate, minimise, control or manage the biosecurity risk posed by the pest or disease.

A declaration under this regulation may be made subject to such conditions, requirements or restrictions as the Minister considers reasonable in the circumstances.

At least 28 days before making a declaration under this regulation, the Minister must – publish a notice of the proposed declaration in the Gazette; and specify, in the notice, a period of not less than 28 days from the publication of the notice during which the Minister will accept comments and submissions on the proposed declaration.

Before making a declaration under subregulation (1), the Minister is to take into account – any comments and submissions received under subregulation (3); and any advice of the Chief Plant Protection Officer and Chief Veterinary Officer in respect of the proposed declaration.

A declaration under subregulation (1) takes effect – on the day on which notice of the declaration is published in the Gazette; or at such later date as is specified in that notice.

A declaration under subregulation (1), notice of which is published under this regulation, ceases to have effect – on the date specified in the notice; or on the expiry of the period specified in the notice; or if no such date or period is specified in the notice, on the revocation of the declaration.

In any Act or any instrument made or administered under an Act, a reference to a declared weed is, unless the contrary intention appears, to be taken as a reference to a weed that is a declared pest under this regulation.

For the removal of doubt, a declared pest or declared disease may include – an invasive pest, or a disease, that is not known to be established in Tasmania; and a pest or disease that is known to be established in Tasmania or a part of Tasmania.

The import of –

any animal fitting; or any horticultural material; or any other thing –

that may reasonably be suspected of being a carrier of prohibited matter is prescribed to be a prohibited dealing for the purposes of section 17(2) of the Act.

The import of –

a declared pest; or a declared disease; or an unknown pest; or an unknown disease; or any thing that may reasonably be suspected of being a carrier of any biosecurity matter referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) –

is prescribed to be a prohibited dealing for the purposes of section 17(2) of the Act.

Feeding offal to a dog is prescribed to be a prohibited dealing for the purposes of section 17(2) of the Act.

Subregulation (1) does not apply if the offal is contained in pet food and the pet food, or the offal component of the pet food – is commercially sterile; or has been treated by the application of a process approved by the Chief Veterinary Officer.

A certificate issued by – the Chief Veterinary Officer; or a biosecurity certifier authorised to issue biosecurity certificates for the purposes of this regulation – certifying that any batch, consignment, lot or quantity of pet food complied with subregulation (2) on the date specified in the certificate, is evidence of that fact.

Feeding prohibited pig feed to a pig is prescribed to be a prohibited dealing for the purposes of section 17(2) of the Act.

Subregulation (1) does not apply if the prohibited pig feed is contained in animal food and the animal food, or the prohibited pig feed component of the animal food – is commercially sterile; or treated by the application of a process approved by the Chief Veterinary Officer.

A certificate issued by – the Chief Veterinary Officer; or a biosecurity certifier authorised to issue biosecurity certificates for the purposes of this regulation – certifying that any batch, consignment, lot or quantity of animal food complied with subregulation (2) on the date specified in the certificate, is evidence of that fact.

Feeding restricted animal material or chicken litter to a ruminant is prescribed to be a prohibited dealing for the purposes of section 17(2) of the Act.

Subregulation (1) does not apply to a person allowing a ruminant access to material if it would not be reasonable in the circumstances for the person to prevent the ruminant from having access to the material, including in, but not limited to, the following circumstances:a ruminant having access to a placenta; a ruminant licking another ruminant; a ruminant finding the bones of wildlife or herd mates; a ruminant having access to the naturally deposited faeces of wildlife or herd mates.

Supplying ruminant food that contains restricted animal material is prescribed to be a prohibited dealing for the purposes of section 17(2) of the Act.

For the purposes of this regulation, any animal food that is supplied or intended for supply is taken to be ruminant food unless – it is prominently labelled or marked as pet food intended for a non-ruminant animal; or it is otherwise prominently labelled or marked with a written warning which states that it contains restricted animal material, and must not be fed to any ruminants.

A certificate issued by – the Chief Veterinary Officer; or a biosecurity certifier authorised to issue biosecurity certificates for the purposes of this regulation – certifying that any batch, consignment, lot or quantity of animal food contains, or does not contain, any quantity of restricted animal material on the date specified in the certificate, is evidence of that fact.

The supply of bait or berley that contains any of the following fish or fish products is prescribed to be a prohibited dealing for the purposes of section 17(2) of the Act:

abalone or abalone products;

oysters or oyster products;

salmonids or salmonid products.