Apiary Industry

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:57): Supplementary question about bees: how often has the department communicated with apiarists over the last six months and, given apiarists are required to register as beekeepers to the department with any hives, why are some beekeepers contacting the opposition with concerns that they are not hearing any communication from the department?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:58): My advice is that registered beekeepers are receiving regular communications which covers key grower information, including both state and relevant interstate permit changes, summaries of discussions at the SAVIAC, which is the advisory committee, notification of upcoming training and education events, and reminders regarding practices to support good biosecurity, such as registration, sampling and surveillance.

PIRSA is disseminating this information via multiple avenues including direct email, PIRSA social media, PIRSA web pages, direct to associations for further distribution, all of this to ensure that maximum reach is achieved to both registered and unregistered beekeepers. Distribution to registered beekeepers will use the most current and consistently updated registration dataset. Relevant communications are also being sent to other interested industries and stakeholders such as pollination-dependent industries.