FRUIT FLY ROADBLOCKS

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:10): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries. In the event that South Australia's fruit, vegetable and livestock industries are not able to pay for the continued operation of night shifts at Yamba and Ceduna quarantine stations, will the government guarantee to continue funding the night shifts?

The 24-hour operation of the Yamba and Ceduna roadblocks is an essential cornerstone of South Australia's quarantine regime and has been fully funded by state governments for decades. The threat of the potentially devastating fruit fly outbreak in the Riverland has never been greater, and I quote the Victorian agriculture minister:

With the amount of rain and high humidity we effectively have almost a Queensland climate this year so it is conducive to the survival of fruit fly...this could be one of the worst outbreaks for Victoria [and South Australia] in 15 years.

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN (Napier—Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Energy, Minister for the Northern Suburbs) (15:11): I thank the member for Chaffey for the question and I am very much aware of his concern on this particular issue. I have had a series of discussions with industry over the last two to three months on the issue of apportioning private benefit and public benefit, and I think industry is now of the view that there is an obligation on industry to pay a component of the cost of maintaining this regime, which is serving the Riverland, in particular, extremely well. The most recent discussion that I had with industry a matter of two or three days ago indicates that the deadline that I set of the last day of March will be met, and that industry will come to me with a funding proposition to keep the roadblocks open.