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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-11-26 Daily Xml
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Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus

Ms PRATT (Frome) (15:49): My question is to the Minister for Small and Family Business. Will the government compensate small business owners following the government's response to the tomato brown rugose fruit virus? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms PRATT: It was reported on 26 November that delays in testing results from PIRSA are prohibiting growers from accessing WA and Queensland markets, causing a glut in tomatoes in all other states. Producers have slammed the handling of the crisis, claiming the response has caused an economic disaster.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (15:50): I thank the member for Frome for her question. The government has been rather active in confronting the challenge when it comes to the tomato virus that has been well reported around the country and certainly here in South Australia. The agency and the regulator, PIRSA, has had a very substantial and complex policy challenge on its hands.

I think it is fair to say that the government's response first and foremost is informed by the science. We acknowledge that the science in this area in Australia is still being developed, being, with respect, a novel virus or a virus we had not yet seen in tomato crops in Australia before. So in many respects, PIRSA was and is responding to something that is without precedent in Australia. For that reason, I think PIRSA quite reasonably is acting with caution to make sure that we are doing everything we reasonably can to protect the many hundreds of people who work within the horticultural sector in South Australia particularly associated with tomatoes and capsicums.

That is why there has been a risk-averse approach from PIRSA in terms of the way it has regulated those that have shown evidence of having the virus. Undoubtedly, the virus has had an adverse impact on the producers who have been affected. Thankfully, on the most recent advice I have seen, that still remains only three producers, which is a far better outcome than what we had feared when the news of the presence of the virus started to emerge. This is something we continue to monitor.

There have been a range of investments that have been made by PIRSA, including now having for the first time in South Australia the capacity to be able to test for the virus, whereas previously those tests were being sent interstate, mainly to Victoria. We now have that capacity based at Waite, which I think is a good outcome to make sure that we can confront this challenge as it is at present but as it may well emerge into the future. I also acknowledge the work that is being done in Athol Park by Ray Borda and his business. Joe and I were able to be witness to the opening of the lab recently, where there will now be a testing capacity done by the private sector as well, which is also advantageous.

In terms of the producers themselves, I have said publicly previously, including in this place, that we will contemplate government support on its merits. We have to think through what that would look like, what the reasons for that are. We have to think through what that means in terms of precedent. I think the most acute focus on behalf of the government up to this point has been containment and eradication of the virus itself where we can but then also working aggressively—and I use that word deliberately—with other jurisdictions to make sure that they are making informed decisions on the basis of science as well.

We have already had some inroads with other jurisdictions around the country. We note that outside of Western Australia and Queensland we have been able to work with interstate regulators effectively to allow the flow of tomatoes unaffected to be able to go interstate into other markets, and we continue to work with the Western Australian and Queensland governments to make sure that they, too, make informed judgements on the basis of science in regard to the policy going forward.

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