Fruit Fly

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is using expert advice to educate South Australians about the impact of fruit fly in the state?

The Hon. D.K.B. BASHAM (Finniss—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:54): I thank the member for Chaffey for his important question. The Marshall Liberal government is currently undertaking the biggest fruit fly response in South Australia's history. South Australia has a strong record of successfully eradicating fruit fly from the state, and remains the only mainland state recognised as fruit fly free by international markets. South Australia is home to some of the world’s best experts on fruit fly. Most importantly, we listen to industry and take advice from the Riverland Fruit Fly Committee.

Approximately 110 staff are responding to the Queensland fruit fly outbreaks in the Riverland, and the officers have collected more than 33,000 kilograms of fruit from properties. More than 250 staff are responding to the fruit fly outbreaks across the state. We have also added additional traps on top of the 7,500 we already have in place across the state. The fruit fly outbreaks in both metropolitan Adelaide and the Riverland are putting thousands of jobs, livelihoods and businesses at risk. We are not taking this response lightly. Keeping the state's fruit fly free status is critical for our farmers, providing economic advantage and market access.

To date, the government has spent about $17 million in the eradication program, a record investment in fruit fly eradication for South Australia. On Sunday, we launched a new fruit fly education campaign to raise awareness about restrictions in place for the movement of some fruit and vegetables. The new campaign features high profile and proud South Australian chef Poh of MasterChef fame. Poh is a wonderful ambassador for the state's food industries, and we believe her trusted voice will help get an important fruit fly message across to the general public.

We need the general public's help to minimise the movement of fruit and prevent further spread. We are committed to eradicating fruit fly from South Australia to protect the $1.3 billion horticulture industry and the 37,500 jobs that rely upon it. Given the widespread outbreaks, we have broken down outbreak zones and suspension areas into a traffic light system—green, red and yellow—to help make it easier for the public to understand restrictions on fruit fly movements. The traffic light map of outbreaks and any other further information can be seen at fruitfly.sa.gov.au.

Another expert area in South Australia, which we utilise for fruit fly response, is the sterile insect technology with flies produced at Port Augusta. Releasing sterile insect technology is the world's best practice proven technique designed to combat—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.K.B. BASHAM: —any remaining wild flies in the outbreak areas. It usually occurs six to eight weeks after the initial organic baiting and clean-up phases of the response. Releasing sterile flies into the affected areas helps prevent any remaining wild flies from reproducing.

Every time we have an outbreak it costs taxpayers money to eradicate. It puts tens of thousands of jobs at risk. Prevention is better than the cure, and that is why we have introduced a zero tolerance approach at the Yamba quarantine station and random road blocks across the state. We are committed to protecting jobs and businesses from the impact of fruit fly.