Fruit Fly

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:16): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Are any of the 25,000 plus Cera fruit fly traps being made in South Australia, and what proportion of the $33.3 million total spend on the fruit fly eradication program does the purchase of traps represent?

The Hon. D.K.B. BASHAM (Finniss—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (15:17): I thank the member for Florey for her question; it is certainly a very important question. The work and investment we are putting into eradicating fruit fly is an enormous workload, particularly in relation to the number of people on the ground working on installing these traps, spraying trees, etc., to get on top of this. This is a big project, and hence the large sum of money involved.

My understanding is that these traps are all coming from overseas. They are traps that aren't developed here, so we are working to get these different traps from different parts of the world to do what we need to do. We are continuing to do what we can in that space. We are doing things here in South Australia, in particular with the breeding of the sterile fruit fly. That happens up at Port Augusta, and it is a key facility to make sure we get on top of fruit fly.

The sterile fruit fly program is an essential part of the attack on fruit fly. We are also receiving sterile fruit fly in relation to Mediterranean fruit fly from WA, where they have a facility for Mediterranean fly, whereas ours is for Queensland fruit fly. It is an all-pronged approach in relation fruit fly. We will continue to work to eradicate these, and I am sure we will get on top of it.