Grievance Debate

Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus

Ms PRATT (Frome) (15:03): Tomatoes are being left to rot in greenhouses on the Adelaide Plains. Just this week, I visited yet another farm. I was delighted to be welcomed to Da'Salvatore Farms by Tony Sacca, his son, Salvatore, mum, Kim, and, of course, sister, Kiara, who are growing delicious, juicy and safe tomatoes. However, these tomatoes, like those of many other growers across the Adelaide Plains, are being left to rot on the vine.

As a country MP, I understand full well the importance of biosecurity. It is essential to our growers, and there is no question that we need a government agency that is focused on making sure that our primary producers are protected from pests and viruses. It is of great concern that it is not in Mother Nature that is threatening the growers at the moment but bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is in the way when it comes to the test results that are still delayed for many growers.

This is an opportunity to raise a profile for the many growers that I have visited across the Adelaide Plains, at Gawler River, Two Wells, Lewiston and extending into Virginia. They are hardworking people. They deserve their story to be told. We are talking about a workforce of over 500 people who have been made redundant. The pick and pack teams to harvest that fruit, box them up and get them to market are stood down at the moment.

What we are relying on is the Minister for Primary Industries in the other place, PIRSA and our lab in SARDI to make sure that their priority is the turning around of those testing results. We know we are close to eradication. I want to thank everyone in PIRSA who has dedicated themselves to working towards that outcome.

It has not been easy to wrangle the other states as part of a national accord, but we have been at the mercy of those other states. When the rugose virus was first discovered, self-reported from a Two Wells business, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, it took PIRSA well over a week to even come out to that property and test. When those leaf samples were taken, we had no lab to stand up. We had no accredited workforce. Our samples were sent interstate to Victoria. Of course, Victorians naturally wanted to test their own samples first, and we went to the bottom of the pack.

That delay, from 1 August through to November, has close to crippled the tomato industry in South Australia. We have proud growers out on the Adelaide Plains, and they have certainly expected government to be there for them. The Liberal Party, the opposition, country MPs and the shadow minister in the other place have been there for them. We have been there for them every step of the way.

I want to make sure that I take this opportunity to thank those growers who have been so generous to welcome the leader and myself to their properties, investigating and inspecting their practice, learning from them, tasting the fruit, and sitting down with them and listening to them to find out exactly what were the factors. Not once did they say that environmental factors or Mother Nature had been unkind. This is a virus that has been present in the United States and Europe for many years now, and those countries and continents have practices in place. We knew it was likely to come and it was no surprise when it arrived in this country, but how our state has responded has been a disappointment.

On a lighter note, I want to recognise a fabulous innovation that is taking place in the Clare Valley in the space of robotics in allied health services. Tim Siv, who has pharmacies in Clare, Burra, Kapunda, Eudunda and Angaston, in the last month has launched a nation-leading innovation that allows for 24/7 robotic dispensing services. So if you are on a tractor late at night getting that crop off and you have forgotten your wife's anniversary, you can go online and order some perfume, but more importantly, when it matters most in the middle of the night and you need health care, you can go online and order prescriptions or other services like that, so I want to commend that innovation in the Clare Valley.