Duties and fees relief package

The Duties and Fees Relief Package is helping to reduce the cost of doing business for Victoria’s primary producers affected by drought.

The package includes measures to waive a raft of livestock biosecurity duties, plant biosecurity fees, beekeeper registration fees, food safety fees and other service charges, delivering more than $10 million in relief to Victorian producers.

Agriculture Victoria is working with food safety regulators Dairy Food Safety Victoria (DFSV) and PrimeSafe, the State Revenue Office and the livestock advisory committees to deliver this support.

The Duties and Fees Relief Package includes the following measures.

Livestock duties and fees

• The payment of livestock duties for the sale of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs will be paused for the period 1 October 2025 until 30 September 2026.
• The pause is applicable for any producer who sells livestock in Victoria who would normally be required to pay duties.
• Primary producers ordering NLIS tags will not have to pay the standard order processing fees. Please note the cost of the tags will still be required and it is still a requirement for producers to purchase tags for their livestock.
• This is applicable to all orders placed from 1 October 2025 to 30 June 2026.
• Other fees relating to livestock services for 2025–26 will remain at the same rate as 2024–25.

Beekeeper registrations and movement certificates

• Beekeepers will receive fee relief through a pause on the cost of their beekeeper registration, which normally covers two years.
• This applies to any beekeeper registration payable from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2027 (24 months).
• Health certificates issued by an apiary inspector for the movement of bees and bee products from Victoria to other states are still required, but any 2025–26 fees, including travel costs, will be waived from 1 October 2025 until 30 June 2026.

Plant biosecurity service fees

• For nursery and horticulture producers, Biosecurity Victoria is waiving fees for various plant biosecurity services from 1 October 2025.
• These include service fees for arrangement applications, arrangement audits, verification inspections, area and property freedom approvals, and any associated travel costs.
• Other plant biosecurity service fees for 2025–26 will remain at the same rate as 2024–25.
• For a full list of Biosecurity Victoria’s plant biosecurity service fees including service delivery where the fee will be waived, visit Fees and charges for plant biosecurity services

Food safety registration fees – horticulture and regulated cropping

• As of 1 October 2025, food safety registration fees will be waived for producers in the 12 local government areas currently deemed as experiencing the worst drought conditions dating back more than 2 years. These LGAs are in south west Victoria.
• Food safety registration fees for 2025–26 will remain at the same rate as 2024–25 for all primary producers outside of these LGAs.
• Food safety registration fees for all producers in Victoria are currently charged at a 50% reduction as part of the rollout of this program. In addition, no audit fees will be charged until February 2027.
• Food safety registration fees are for separate services than plant biosecurity services.

The 12 eligible LGAs include:

• Ararat
• Moyne
• Colac Otway
• Pyrenees
• Corangamite
• Southern Grampians
• Glenelg
• Surf Coast
• Golden Plains
• Warrnambool
• City of Greater Geelong
• West Wimmera (postcodes 3312, 3317, 3318 and 3319).

Food safety farmer licence fees – dairy

• Dairy farmers will receive a discount on their licence fees, which will be reflected in their milk payments from dairy manufacturers.
• Dairy farmers don’t have to apply, as DFSV is working directly with manufacturers to apply the discount.

For more information, visit Dairy Food Safety Victoria

Food safety registration fees – meat

• PrimeSafe will provide drought-affected primary producers who have a PrimeSafe Licence and a Property Identification Code (PIC) with a relief payment based on their registration fees. Eligibility is open to all that hold a PrimeSafe licence and a PIC.
• The exact amount of the payment will be determined by the number of producers who apply for the support through an EOI.
• Licence holders have been contacted by PrimeSafe and invited to submit a short Expression of Interest to receive the payment.
• Applications are now open and they close at 4 pm on Saturday 1 November 2025.
• For more information on the PrimeSafe payment, visit Fee Relief for Drought-Affected PrimeSafe Licence Holders - PrimeSafe.

For a full list of Agriculture Victoria’s service fees visit Fees and penalties

For more information regarding livestock duty payments to the State Revenue Office visit https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/livestock-duty