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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-26 Daily Xml
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Yamba Quarantine Station

Mr BOYER (Wright) (14:43): My question is again to the Minister for Primary Industries. How does the minister explain an email sent by Mr Wayne Marshall on Monday 4 February that states, 'The bins that have been placed prior to the Yamba quarantine station—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir: questions may not introduce facts except by leave of the house. Leave has not been sought.

Dr Close: He has to finish answering the question first.

The SPEAKER: Deputy leader, I don't accept interjections, but you might be right here. I have asked for the point of order to be made at the end of the answer. I think I have the point of order: it is for the insertion of fact. The member for Wright knows that that is contrary to standing orders without leave of the house, so he can either rephrase or seek leave. If not, we will move to those on my right. Member for Wright.

Mr BOYER: My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries. Did the minister ever receive advice that the temporary bins placed prior to the Yamba quarantine station had not been emptied for over five weeks?

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:44): I thank the member for his question. It's ironic that, through this process of zero tolerance, I have had to fight the Labor Party. I have had to fight the unions the whole way to protect a $1.28 billion industry.

The SPEAKER: Minister, please be seated. The point of order—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: For debate.

The SPEAKER: —is for debate.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The union movement and the Labor Party do not administer fruit fly bans.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I am wanting to allow the minister some preamble, if it's relevant. If not, I ask him to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: Yes, I will, thank you, sir. What I should say is the opposition here in South Australia and the union movement, I have had to fight them the whole way.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Innovation might have a bit to say about the union movement; however, he has not got the call. Minister, I ask you to come back to the substance of the question. If you continue in the fashion that you are, could I suggest that it may lead to quarrels and I may need to intercept.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: What is of paramount importance here is that the zero tolerance approach is there to protect—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister is answering.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —a $1.28 billion horticulture industry. If those opposite want to play games with that protection—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens, I imagine this is for debate.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, sir.

The SPEAKER: I am allowing the minister, like I try to from time to time, some compare and contrast to a point. Minister, I ask you to come back to the substance of the question.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: Certainly. The substance of the question is about biosecurity, and the substance is about protecting—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left, be quiet.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: —a $1.28 billion horticulture industry. If those opposite don't want to support those industries—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir: we are not the issue here. It is debate.

The SPEAKER: The minister has the call. Member for West Torrens, be seated. I have the question. I am listening. I ask for interjections to cease or members on my left will be leaving.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: Yes, there were some running diaries that had concerns about the congestion on the highway, about the number of cars that were banked up and the impost that it was putting on those motorists having to be stopped at the border and having lengthy waits. That has happened since 1954.

What I would say is that, with the latest upgrade of the biosecurity measures at Yamba, we have seen a $1½ million upgrade so that we can speed up the process. We have seen an extra 14 staff employed as biosecurity officers at the Yamba roadblock. Again, that is to speed up the process so that the fruit can be deposited at the declaration bins at Bede Road and then, if people are doing the wrong thing, they have had ample signage, ample opportunity, ample education programs to be a part of the solution.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir: the opposition has sat quietly and listened to the minister speak. He refuses to sit down when a point of order is moved. He will not answer the question. He is deliberately—

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens, you can leave for the remainder of question time under 137A.

The honourable member for West Torrens having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Light, you can follow him.

The honourable member for Light having withdrawn from the chamber:

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call. Come back to bins.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: I will continue to acknowledge the great work that our biosecurity officers are undertaking.

Mr Hughes: Just answer the questions.

The SPEAKER: The member for Giles is on two warnings.

Members interjecting:

Ms COOK: Point of order: 97, debate.

The SPEAKER: Debate is 98 not 97. I do not uphold the point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Waite! Members, honestly. I ask the decorum of the house to lift for just the remaining 17 minutes, please. Minister, get on with it.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: Again, I reiterate: the process of the zero tolerance approach has had some members of biosecurity with concerns with the long waiting times. Again, we continue to deal with history.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left, I am trying to listen to the minister's answer. If these interjections continue, I won't be taking points of order for debate because if I can't hear the minister I can't adjudicate on them. Minister.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: Thank you, sir. Again, yes, the biosecurity officers raise concerns about the long line-ups of cars. That's why the speeding up of the process has occurred; the investment in the slip lane at Yamba—

Mr Malinauskas: Answer the question.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: The increase in staff at Yamba is dealing with the zero tolerance approach. The member asked the question about correspondence from staff. There has been a daily diary where staff, if they have had concerns, enter them into that diary. As I said, the concerns about some of the procedures at Yamba have been happening since 1954.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE: We have seen line-ups of up to two hours at Yamba. Today, we are seeing line-ups of a maximum of 40 minutes. So I think we are seeing a better process, we are seeing better border security and we are protecting our farmers, our horticulturalists—a $1.28 billion industry.

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition is warned. The member for Florey has the call and then the member for Flinders.

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