Fruit Fly

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) (14:04): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Go the Eagles! I seek leave to make a—

The SPEAKER: You were on the winner last year.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Yes, Westies were too good last year but, this year, I think you will beat Sturt. I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: The honourable Leader of the Opposition in the South Australian Legislative Council has released information to South Australia's major newspaper, potentially harming South Australia's exports. The information reference in The Advertiser this morning related to South Australia's fruit fly program, in particular details of the outbreak of Mediterranean fruit fly that occurred in and around Clarence Park that was declared in February this year. The provision of this information to the media is irresponsible and could harm our exports, knowing our major export markets routinely monitor international press.

After many years of negotiation, China has only recently recognised our valuable Riverland production as being fruit fly free for nectarine exports. It is actions such as those by the honourable member which can have a disastrous impact in these significant new and existing markets. The Advertiser article featured comments from the shadow minister for agriculture, food and fisheries suggesting that the South Australian government's fruit fly monitoring program undertaken by Biosecurity SA has failed to detect and prevent fruit fly outbreaks in metropolitan Adelaide.

The shadow minister was also on radio suggesting that Biosecurity SA does not have adequate funding to properly administer its fruit fly prevention, detection and eradication measures. These statements misrepresent South Australia's enviable fruit fly program and the enormous contribution this government program makes to maintaining South Australia's fruit fly free status. The state government puts in a huge amount of work to uphold this status. More than 7,000 fruit fly traps across our state are serviced and maintained in accordance with nationally agreed protocols. This sees metropolitan and regional inspectors servicing traps on a weekly or fortnightly schedule, depending on the location and time of year.

More than 100,000 fruit fly trap inspections are undertaken each year by our inspectors. The report in The Advertiser article is a standard review process, and it quite clearly states that the traps in Area 8 Round 21 were serviced on 18 December 2015, 15 January 2016 and 12 February 2016. The claim by the shadow minister that the traps were not checked for the whole month of January is clearly wrong. Further to this, cases where individual trapping runs were not able to be completed does not mean the whole grid has not been serviced. The shadow minister needs to actually read the report or ask someone to explain it to him because he does not understand it or the implications of his actions.

I am at a complete loss to understand why the opposition would deliberately put our horticulture industry at risk—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I am at a complete loss to understand why the opposition would deliberately put our horticultural industry at risk by spreading misinformation about Biosecurity SA's fruit fly program and threatening South Australia's fruit fly freedom status.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The minister was given leave. If the opposition does not like what the minister is saying, the remedy is to withdraw leave; it is not to interject persistently.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. This is not a joke. Fruit fly is the world's worst horticultural pest and, apart from lowering production and making fruit inedible, their presence has severe consequences on trade to sensitive markets, both locally and internationally.

South Australia is the only Australian mainland state which is fruit fly free. This status has significant economic benefits for our state. Maintaining our fruit fly freedom status protects the commercial production of fruit, vegetables, wine grapes and almonds in South Australia, particularly in the Riverland and Murraylands. The estimated farmgate value of the state's horticultural produce vulnerable to fruit fly infestations is $1.1 billion.

It should be noted that our trapping grid is only one measure in the ring of protection allowing South Australia to maintain its fruit fly free status. South Australia commits approximately $5 million each year to undertake measures, including permanent and random roadblocks into the state, quarantine stations located at key border entry points, arrangements to certify that commercial product enters the state fruit fly free and an extensive community awareness campaign.

As part of the standard review of the response to the metropolitan Mediterranean fruit fly outbreaks, the state government has made significant additional investment in fruit fly surveillance, so casual staff are available to fill every trapping run. The government has also committed an additional $430,000 each year to allow more traps to be deployed in South Australia's production areas in the Adelaide Hills and Northern Adelaide Plains and is committing funds to trial detector dogs to be used to check passengers and their baggage on flights from Perth, being a risk pathway for Mediterranean fruit fly.

An enormous amount of work has been done by the South Australian government to secure access to sensitive markets in China, and Asia more broadly, to support premium food and wine from our clean environment and export it to the world, which is one of our government's 10 economic priorities.

Reports in the media such as this can only negatively affect our international markets by painting an incorrect picture that South Australia is inadequately protected. This is not the case at all, and a clear message needs to be made that the government's strategies are effective in detecting fruit fly if it is brought into the state and keeping fruit fly out of our valuable production areas, such as the Adelaide Hills, the Riverland and the Northern Adelaide Plains. PIRSA has already had inquiries from the commonwealth government on whether the claims made by the shadow minister—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I can't believe the opposition leader thinks this is something to laugh about. This is a billion-dollar industry—a billion-dollar industry.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We are putting more money into this area.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: We are putting more money into this area.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: The budget has not been slashed—

The SPEAKER: The minister will not respond to interjections because by doing so he puts them on the Hansard record.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Thank you—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —and, hopefully, their laughter is recorded as well because it is not a laughing matter. PIRSA has already had inquiries from the commonwealth government on whether the claims made by the shadow minister in the media this morning are correct, as they are anticipating queries from international trading partners. We now have to contact these partners to correct the record.

The Liberal Party's political grandstanding in the media and their reckless use of factually incorrect information about Biosecurity SA's fruit fly program and South Australia's fruit fly-free status may have already caused severe reputational damage to our horticultural industry, putting markets at risk and putting jobs at risk. If the opposition leader and the Liberals are serious about growing our state, protecting our brand and building our reputation overseas, he should sack the shadow agriculture minister for the damaging, uninformed comments he continues to make about the South Australian agricultural industry.