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

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:52): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding tomato brown rugose fruit virus testing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: It was reported in the media yesterday that Gawler River Tomatoes was forced to cease tomato production after laboratory testing allegedly provided a false positive result for the presence of the tomato brown rugose fruit virus, according to the company's owner, Mr Harry Kapiris. It is understood that Perfection Fresh notified PIRSA of the results of independent testing that apparently identified the presence of the virus at Gawler River Tomatoes.

Mr Kapiris advised that before his crop was destroyed, however, more than 60 samples were sent for testing by the Agriculture Victoria's health services, which all came back negative. PIRSA's director of plant and invasive species, Nick Secomb, said PIRSA did not request in-depth results of the positive test prior to placing Gawler River Tomatoes into quarantine, nor has it asked for them since. My questions to the minister are as follows:

1. How many independent tests were conducted to detect the presence of the virus at Gawler River Tomatoes, and how many came back positive prior to PIRSA placing the company into quarantine?

2. Is the minister absolutely confident that her department acted with all the necessary due diligence prior to placing Gawler River Tomatoes into quarantine to ensure this particular course of action was absolutely required in these circumstances?

3. Can the minister rule out a false positive test result in this instance from the most recent testing, and will the state government provide compensation to Gawler River Tomatoes if it's found that the initial tests were in fact incorrect, as it now seems they may be?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:54): I thank the honourable member for his question. My advice is that there is no evidence to suggest that the test from the Kapiris property was a false positive. Mr Nick Secomb, who is from PIRSA and has been intimately involved with the entire response, has indicated that it is not necessarily unusual that, for tests from the same area, one may be positive and one may be negative. So my advice is that there is no evidence that there is a false positive.

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