The proposed fees under the seed potato certification scheme form part of the recommendations of the recent expenditure review of programmes in the potato sector. These fees relate to field charges only and will be phased in over five years. They will also be subject to an annual review.
The expenditure review initiative forms an important element of the Government's effort to secure value for money from public expenditure. The intention of such reviews is to provide a basis for decisions on resource allocation as was the case in this instance.
I have already revised the PCN testing element of the fees but do not propose any further changes for this year. I am confident that the fees are both reasonable and necessary and will bring commercial focus to the area of seed production which will ultimately be for the benefit of the industry as a whole.