Biosecurity South Australia

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): Further supplementary: why hasn't the minister requested an update in regard to the recruitment process of the executive director of Biosecurity SA?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:23): We have been a little busy with responding to the tomato brown rugose disease outbreak.

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Ringing the HR department to find out at what stage an advertisement is—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Those opposite I think are making themselves look ridiculous.

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: It is hardly the appropriate response when we are in the middle of an outbreak that is affecting significant businesses here in South Australia and significant levels of workforce for me to be ringing up HR and saying, 'Which newspaper is the advertisement in?' or, 'When will it be appearing?'

What I think is really important here is to talk about what has been undertaken. This is the first time we have this disease in Australia; it is a nationally significant disease. Yesterday, Perfection Fresh advised their staff that many of them would be stood down. That is happening over a staggered period.

At 9 o'clock this morning we were able to have in place at Virginia in the Northern Adelaide Plains a support hub for the workforce. We were able to have at that support hub relevant people who can assist those workers who are facing being stood down. That is excellent work and has been done following the establishment of a task force on Monday, which involves many different government agencies as well as industry. This has been some very intense work, swift responses, in terms of supporting the workforce, and those involved are to be congratulated.