Sheep breeders push for easier process for importing genetics

Sheep producers across the country are highlighting the difficulties they are experiencing in importing genetics, especially those of rarer or less-prominent breeds in Australia, which they say could hold back the growth of those breeds in the country.

The issue lies with many of these breeds not currently falling under the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's Biosecurity Import Conditions (BICON) database.

For commodities that are included on the database, wait times for an importation permit can be as little as 20 business days, however for those not included, it can take years for DAFF to conduct a risk analysis and develop an import policy.

Among the breeds impacted by the policy is the emerging Charollais sheep breed, which Australian Charollais Sheep Association president Doug Mitchell said would "benefit enormously" from a streamlined approach to allowing genetics for less common breeds into the country.

"I totally understand the government's position on ensuring that nothing that could cause damage to Australia's agricultural industry be let into the country," Mr Mitchell said.

"However, I think the policy really needs looking at because personally, I've been calling the department every six months for the past 10 or 12 years in a bid to try and get some new genetics into the country.

"In fact, another member of the association and myself went to Canberra to discuss it with them how we could work out how to get genetics into Australia.

"However, it doesn't appear likely at all for a long time, at least at this stage."

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Mr Mitchell said the other limiting factor for producers looking to import genetics was the cost associated with going through the process to be certified for importation.

"Even if you could get hold of the semen you still have to slaughter the dam and the sire to ensure they don't have scrapie," he said.

"Economically speaking, you wouldn't go to the trouble for just anything, you would want it to be of high quality, so there is the first associated cost, but to then go through the process it would cost you an enormous amount of money, even if it was available."

Also facing the challenges of importing sheep genetics is NSW-based grazier and former NRL player Nathan Stapleton, who said "dealing with the government's red tape" was becoming frustrating.

"The biosecurity team has basically said it is possible if we can locate an ARQ genomic type, which is essentially like trying to find something they killed off years ago," Mr Stapleton said.

"I know there has been a lot of work done overseas to try and change the genomic type to allow it into Australia, because they have been able to import genetics into other countries such as America and New Zealand.

"That sort of says to me that it can be done but it feels like the governing bodies are just stonewalling us.

"I think it is very important for the meat sheep industry to be able to import genetics to help continue to improve the industry.

"Australia already does have some fantastic meat sheep genetics but I just think if we could get in some genetics from overseas we could have some of the best sheep in the world.

"There's protocols to be met, we understand that, but it just seems like the biosecurity team has more or less put it in the too-hard basket."

A DAFF spokesperson said the department had not heard of any reports of increased difficulties in the importation process, but it was always looking at ways to help streamline the process.

"The department's role is to protect Australia's favourable animal health status and prevent the introduction of diseases and pests that could inadvertently arrive with imported commodities," the spokesperson said.

"The department receives regular enquiries about non-permitted commodities and provides information to assist prospective importers in understanding the complexity of analysing the biosecurity risks associated with importing such commodities to Australia.

"The development of an import policy for a new commodity is therefore a very lengthy process."

On the subject of pushing a case for the importation of exotic breeds, the spokesperson said the department considered a number of factors before conducting risk analysis.

"The department is aware of interest in importing many commodities that are currently non-permitted and must prioritise these according to market demand and the likelihood of finding measures to reduce the biosecurity risk sufficiently to allow importation to Australia," the spokesperson said.

"For some commodities, there may be no way to mitigate the biosecurity risks to an acceptable level to protect Australia's animal health status.

"For others there may be insufficient interest or resources for conducting a risk analysis and developing an import policy. As there are many competing priorities, no timeframe can be given for commencement of new risk analyses after interest is lodged by prospective importers."