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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-05-15 Daily Xml
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Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:31): Supplementary: what additional information does the CCEPP require?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:31): My understanding is that it relates to the surveillance and tracing of the potentially infected seedlings or plant material that I referred to earlier in this question time. Throughout the experience so far of the tomato brown rugose fruit virus, my focus always has been to support the maximum market access for South Australian growers.

We have roughly 230 tomato growers here in South Australia. As we saw last year, other states, other jurisdictions, made decisions to essentially close their borders to South Australia at various times, and then through a lot of work by both my department and also through the national arrangements, as well as direct conversations and communications with some of my interstate counterparts, we were able to get access to other states through proposing particular testing regimes that they ultimately accepted. There was certainly some toing and froing around that, and a lot of work by my department to be able to achieve some of those markets being opened. Whatever happens from here on in, that will continue to be my focus.

Perhaps it's worth understanding that if eradication is not considered to be technically feasible, we then move to what is called management. What the impacts of a management regime would be on South Australian growers, or indeed growers anywhere in the country, is yet to be worked through because that can take a number of different forms.

I think it's important to note that it would not necessarily mean that all of the borders are open for free trade without any kind of testing regime. Some of those decisions will be made by individual jurisdictions, as they did last year. Obviously, the preference is that there is a national approach that is agreed upon, and that is the approach we will certainly be advocating for here in South Australia to ensure the greatest market access for South Australian growers that is possible.

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