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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-08 Daily Xml
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QUARANTINE STATIONS

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:36): My grieve relates to the closing of the night shift at South Australia's quarantine stations, and I am glad to see that the agricultural minister is here to listen to it. I have spoken on this matter before, but I fear the situation is now far more serious. It has recently been put to me that Queensland fruit fly detections and outbreaks have been recorded in more than 80 locations in New South Wales and Victoria this season. There have also been four detections of Queensland fruit fly in Adelaide suburbs this year. In an interview on ABC radio, Biosecurity SA's Geoff Raven said that there had been six detections of fruit fly larvae.

Riverland fruit and vegetable industries are obviously under serious threat now, yet this government is still prepared to compromise the most important part of the state's quarantine efforts—the permanent roadblocks at Yamba and Ceduna. After a question from me in a previous question time, the minister said that he had had consultation with the relevant people. I contacted those groups and those people, and they had no contact with the minister.

These roadblocks have operated 24 hours a day for several decades. Every previous government has found the relatively small amount of money needed to do that, except this government, due to its incompetent budget management and lack of concern for regional South Australia. The government claims that its review of the state's fruit fly program shows a diminished risk if the night shifts at the roadblocks were closed, which is strongly contradicted by South Australia's fruit and livestock industries.

The government's recommendations are also contradicted by the facts: the night shift crew at Yamba continues to intercept and confiscate produce. At the moment it is flat out inspecting trucks bringing wine grapes into South Australia from Victoria for processing in Riverland wineries. More than 200 trucks were inspected by the night shift crews this February, and there are many more to be inspected during the course of the vintage.

The Tri-state Fruit Fly Committee says that a staggering 12 per cent of travellers are carrying fruit and vegetables in and out of quarantine areas. These industries are working very hard to find other aspects of the fruit fly program that could be cut in order to preserve the roadblock night shifts, which demonstrates just how essential the nightshifts are. The Tri-State Fruit Fly Committee chairman was on ABC radio last week saying how much our permanent fruit fly roadblocks are envied by the fruit industries in New South Wales and Victoria, but the government is prepared to close the night shifts at these roadblocks in a blatant attempt to bully industries into paying for those night shifts.

Quarantine is and always has been the government's responsibility. The attempt to make industry pay more is out of desperation from a government that cannot manage its state's finances. Who knows what damage has already been done by the government's announcement on 3 October 2010 that it would close the night shifts? It sent a very bad message to export markets that are worth many millions of dollars, not only to the growers but to South Australia's economy.

The government's review has clearly got it wrong. The risk of fruit fly outbreak which could devastate our fruit and livestock industries is greater than ever. The Citrus Board of South Australia said last week that loss of fruit fly area freedom status in the Riverland could cost the citrus industry alone more than $4 million in cold disinfestation costs. The bottom line is: do South Australians want to risk biting into a beautiful fresh South Australian peach and eat maggots? Now is not the time to even contemplate a compromise of our quarantine efforts but, instead, put in more resources to strengthen them.

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