Fruit Fly

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (14:47): A further supplementary.

The SPEAKER: Further supplementary.

Mr WHETSTONE: Minister, are you aware of the announcement today of the $80,000 contribution to the National Fruit Fly Strategy, and how far advanced is the sterile insect facility at Port Augusta?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (14:48): I again thank the member for Chaffey for those questions and for his great advocacy for his region and for the sector. It was announced yesterday by Plant Health Australia that there will be a national fruit fly advisory committee established. South Australia will be committing $65,000 to that over two years, and there will be a whole lot of money coming in from other states and also from industry to make sure that we are all working together, because there is no point in South Australia trying to go it alone and fight this real threat to our state.

On the sterile insect technology, I can confirm that the government has put up $3 million to build a facility at Port Augusta. We have gathered together industry players and researchers as well to come up with $21 million of research money over five years once we get that sterile insect technology plant up and running at Port Augusta. Work on that is set to begin next year and, again, we want to work with the other states to make sure that they buy their sterile flies from us rather than getting them in from South Africa or some other place.