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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-09-26 Daily Xml
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Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier expect the government to make any orders under the Plant Health Act for any other farms and, if so, what will be the impact of those orders on the tomato market?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:25): The government clearly reserves its rights to be able to do that under the act. We don't hope for that, we don't aspire to do that, but the government will make whatever decision is appropriate in order to protect the industry more broadly.

Currently—and I invite members not to place too much emphasis on this because it is still early days—the testing that has been undertaken has demonstrated that the virus has only been found at three sites. There have been 2,919 samples taken. I seek to use this occasion to clarify the record. I had my numbers wrong this morning on ABC Radio; I was doing it from memory.

The results that we know is that, of the almost 3,000 tests, 50 of those have produced a positive result, but those 50 are all isolated at three particular affected properties. A very significant amount of testing has been undertaken and a lot more will continue to be undertaken, is my advice. Thus far we have every reason to believe that this hasn't extended beyond those three properties, but this is a virus and we know how easily it is able to be transmitted. We monitor it closely. We don't aspire to institute any other orders on facilities, but, of course, we will if that's what is deemed appropriate and necessary.

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