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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-11-13 Daily Xml
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FRUIT FLY

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:28): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question relating to the recently announced fruit fly sterile insect facility.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: In the 2013-14 budget, the government announced a $1 million investment over four years to boost fruit fly surveillance, border controls, monitoring and public education. The minister advised yesterday that this $1 million is being reallocated to a new $3 million facility in the Upper Spencer Gulf, which will develop male sterile Queensland fruit flies to combat the threat of a fruit fly outbreak. The minister clarified that the Qfly sterile insect technology program will cost $15 million to run over five years. Given the minister's statement that the government is spending $5 million per year on fruit fly surveillance, border controls, monitoring and public education, given that an additional $1 million is being reallocated to the facility, and given the minister's statement that South Australia is taking the lead and has committed $3 million towards the facility, I ask the minister:

1. Is the $3 million capital funding for the facility being transferred from the $5 million recurrent expenditure the minister referred to, or is it an additional budget allocation over and above the extra $1 million?

2. What fruit fly surveillance, border controls, monitoring and public education will not occur as a result of the redirection of the $1 million budget allocation?

3. If the $3 million is being reallocated from the existing recurrent expenditure, what surveillance, border control, monitoring and public education programs will need to be cut to fund this?

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) (14:31): I thank the honourable member for his questions. The simple answer is that no programs will be cut or stopped to facilitate the funding of this new state-of-the-art facility, with which South Australia has taken the lead nationally to do something about ensuring we protect our horticulture sector—which is very important to us here in South Australia—and protecting our credentials.

We are the only mainland state to remain fruit fly free. The Weatherill government intends to keep it that way, so we have taken a lead on this initiative after some of our neighbours have let us down. Two of our neighbours have allowed the fruit fly infestation to become endemic in those states, and they have removed eradication programs except for, I think, one of the Sunraysia fruit fly free areas. It has become endemic, increasing the risk here in South Australia.

South Australia has taken the lead on this. We have committed $3 million to a capital spend in relation to the building of this new facility in the Upper Spencer Gulf—probably Port Augusta.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I gave that information to you yesterday, but the Hon. Robert Brokenshire never listens. In terms of the $15 million, that is industry funds that we have managed to leverage. Again, I put all of that on record yesterday, but I am happy to do it all again. The main partners are HAL (Horticulture Australia Limited) and CSIRO—two of the key players. They are using industry funds to put together a package of $15 million over five years for the operational expenditure of the facility. So, the $3 million that the state government is contributing is largely for capital spend.

We have decided that the $1 million we made available in the last budget to put towards new and additional fruit fly protection measures was an ideal example or project of a new fruit fly protection initiative, so we have invested that $1 million, with an additional $2 million, to make up the $3 million. This project will not make any difference to the current expenditure in relation to public awareness and information campaigns, our border protection, and such like, and our grid systems. The funding of this particular project will not make any difference to the existing funding for those other projects.

As I said, we are very pleased to see South Australia taking the lead on this. Once again, South Australia punches way above its weight. When you look at what the horticultural industry must be worth in some of those other jurisdictions—I am an old Goulburn Valley girl; I was born and bred there in Victoria.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: My first political act was to give out how-to-vote cards for the National Party with my father. My parents were staunch National Party members. I think I was five at the time. They probably call it child exploitation now but I used to love it; I used to love getting out there with dad. He was a great father, indeed.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: They taught me to be an activist and they are very proud of the path that I have chosen, although our politics do vary at some levels. It always makes discussions at Christmas time interesting. Nevertheless, we—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Wasn't your dad treasurer of one of the branches?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I don't think he was ever treasurer but he probably held many other positions—and my mother did as well; she was very active as well. Both my parents are strong political activists and they taught me to be politically active, and I am very proud of that. Our kitchen was strewn with National Party tea towels from fundraisers—strewn. That was a favourite fundraiser for the Nats.

Back to the leadership that we are showing with this fabulous initiative: I have outlined in detail the funding arrangements and the fact that they will not impact on the programs that exist currently.

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