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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-10-31 Daily Xml
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Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:39): Supplementary: has the minister corresponded with her WA counterpart—that is, the WA agriculture minister—about the large numbers of samples required and the stringent requirements for that 10-day testing prior to harvest?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:40): First of all, I have spoken with the Western Australian minister about these matters. Secondly, Western Australia in effect closed their borders to South Australia, so that meant that all South Australian tomato growers could not access the Western Australian market. That means not just those who are directly affected because they had an infection of tomato brown rugose disease but all South Australian growers.

The important part of the negotiations with the other states is to be able to open up the markets as much as possible to those who are not directly impacted by the disease. We have heard from those opposite—again, a bit of a theme around flip-flopping, I think. Do they want people to be looking at eradication and, therefore, abiding by the regulations, or do they want with this disease to let it rip? They kind of flip-flop around that by asking this question and then an opposing question.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: Point of order: the minister is misrepresenting what has been said in this chamber.

The PRESIDENT: There is no point of order. Continue, but please conclude so we can move on.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Thank you, Mr President. The officials have been working at their level. Obviously the scientific input on a national level has been key, and I am certainly happy to acknowledge that it has been frustrating that we haven't been able to get to the nationally agreed protocols. That is not something that PIRSA can decide. That is something that has to be agreed on by the federal government and all the states and territories—

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting:

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: All the states and territories.

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Getting those agreed protocols is an absolute priority. It has been incredibly frustrating that some of the other jurisdictions have not been able to reach agreement on that. However, I do acknowledge the large amount of work that has gone into that. I think it is also worth pointing out again that this is an exotic disease for Australia. This is a disease that hasn't been detected in Australia until this time. The scientific input is work that has to occur and then be considered. The protocols are being worked through and I look forward to being able to see those come to fruition as soon as is possible.

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