Biosecurity Amendment (Improving Operational Efficiency) Bill 2026

Senator GREEN (Queensland—Assistant Minister for Tourism, Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs and Assistant Minister for Northern Australia) (12:42): I'm pleased to rise on this Biosecurity Amendment (Improving Operational Efficiency) Bill 2026, particularly because it enables an incredibly important modernisation of our border, something that is going to be incredibly important for our international visitors and tourism sector.

The bill does two things. It modernises how travellers provide biosecurity information and it improves fairness and transparency for biosecurity industry participants. It enables the digital Australian travel declaration, starting the move from paper based forms to modern digital options.

Travellers can provide accurate information earlier before they board, which supports faster and stronger biosecurity decisions. I'm very pleased that our government has made the decision to phase out the paper based declarations. You will no longer have to ask around on the plane whether someone has a pen, and we will reduce those queues for people coming into our system at the airport.

But we will also be taking strong action on biosecurity. This is an important step forward in developing from the pilot to the rollout of the system. But of course, let me be very clear about this: the Albanese Labor government will never compromise Australia's biosecurity system.

Since the 2022 election, Albanese Labor government has committed over $2 billion in additional resourcing for biosecurity—funding that is sustainable, permanent and ongoing. I commend the bill to the Senate. Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.