Legislative Council: Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Contents

Giant Pine Scale

The Hon. J.S. LEE (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:45): Supplementary: is the minister satisfied that the measures undertaken right now would actually prevent more outbreaks and be able to address the problems very swiftly?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:45): What was the last bit?

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Very quickly to address the problems when they have been detected.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: It is worth referring back to my answer where I mentioned that this is now considered an endemic disease in Australia, so that means that eradication is not considered possible. Managed forests, of course, in South Australia, have incredibly high levels of management essentially. They are world renowned in terms of their management systems and, of course, it is in the interests of the commercial growers to ensure that they have as much surveillance for all pests including giant pine scale. They are continuing to work, obviously, with that and, as I outlined in my original answer, in terms of this particular outbreak, which is in a metropolitan suburban area, there has been the working group of many stakeholders.