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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-03-20 Daily Xml
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FRUIT FLY

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:45): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question with respect to fruit fly protection.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The Riverland's fruit fly free status is vital in providing Riverland producers access to key international markets. It has been estimated that a single fruit fly outbreak in the Riverland could cost $2 million to contain and eradicate and could deny the Riverland fruit industry access to vital export markets.

Long weekends see the Riverland inundated with thousands of visitors. Typically, a roadblock at Blanchetown is active on long weekends. Over the Adelaide Cup long weekend in March 2012, 180 kilograms of fruit was seized at the Blanchetown roadblock. At the Australia Day long weekend in January 2013, 231 vehicles were found to be illegally carrying fruit when stopped at Blanchetown, of which 13 were referred for further action, that being either a formal warning or a fine. My questions to the minister are:

1. Given the significant number of drivers caught illegally bringing fruit into the Riverland over the long weekends in 2012 and 2013, why wasn't a random fruit fly roadblock established over the recent long weekend, on 9 to 11 March 2013?

2. Are there plans to open more random fruit fly roadblocks across South Australia this year with a focus around times of high traffic for tourists coming to the region?

3. Of the 13 people referred for further action following the Australia Day long weekend roadblock, how many fines will be pursued?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:47): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. Indeed, South Australia is very proud of its fruit fly free status. We are one of the few jurisdictions that can boast of such a clean record, and we work very hard to ensure that we maintain that fruit fly free status. There are a number of things that we do to ensure that we remain free of fruit fly, and one of those measures is the instigation of roadblocks, including random roadblocks. Random roadblocks are generally conducted during times of very high traffic, at peak periods.

I have had this same question asked before in this place, about providing assurances about where they are going to be in future and suchlike, so it is disappointing to see an almost identical question wheeled out again. Two out of three questions this afternoon have in fact been rehashes of previous questions.

I have made it quite clear in this place before that assessments are made about roadblocks. It is a demand system. Assessments are made on where officers believe the resources are best located, and they are moved and located according to what is needed. That practice will continue because it is a very sound practice and it has served us very well in the past. That is what we will continue to do.

In terms of the 13 warnings, I was informed of the number that were likely to go through to prosecution but I do not have that number with me.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: And we know how lazy the opposition are. There are a number of those 13 that have been put through for further investigation and are likely to end in prosecution. There were 13 formal warnings and expiations out of that. I remind honourable members that one of the main purposes of this roadblock program is education, rather than punishment. The inspectors use this opportunity to engage with members of the general public to inform them of the importance of these roadblocks and how important it is not to bring fruit in. Their view is that a lot of the time it is a genuine oversight and so by increasing public awareness and attention this will improve compliance. In terms of how many people the inspectors stop, I will take that on notice and bring back an answer to the council on how many of those may be going through to prosecution.

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