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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-09-04 Daily Xml
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Varroa Mite

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:28): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question to the Minister for Primary Industries on the topic of varroa mite.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: In regard to varroa mite, I note that PIRSA's website advises that, and I quote:

Applications to bring hives into SA from NSW or within 25km of a known varroa detection will be individually assessed using risk assessments based on PIRSA's protection standards.

Given the critical importance of biosecurity in protecting South Australia's beekeeping and pollination-dependent industries, and the recent detection of varroa mite, I am seeking clarity on how these decisions are made and on the capacity of the department to carry out such assessments. So my questions to the minister are:

1. Will the minister detail or indeed table PIRSA's protection standards that underpin these assessments?

2. Can the minister also update the chamber on the number of applications that PIRSA has received over the last 12 months and, in regard to those applications received, those applications that have been approved and declined and the reason for those decisions?

3. What resources—that is, how many FTE—are currently allocated within PIRSA to undertake these individual risk assessments when it comes to hive movements into South Australia?

4. Is the minister confident that her department is well resourced to respond to the increasing biosecurity incursions in South Australia, and, if not, has she made a formal request to the Treasurer for greater resourcing?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for her question. Over the past probably 18 months plus has been the development of the South Australian varroa plan. The South Australian Varroa Industry Advisory Committee was appointed and met on numerous occasions to work through development of that plan, and of course it was consistent with the national plan. That committee includes commercial beekeepers; recreational beekeepers; industry members, particularly in pollination dependent industries; and more.

So there has been a huge amount of work that has gone into developing the plan, because here we have two ultimately competing priorities. We need to protect South Australia's beekeepers and hives as far as possible. We also need to protect the industries that are pollination dependent. The almond industry alone, for example, is worth about $100 million per year, and if they did not have access to hives and to bees for pollination season, it would bring that industry to its knees.

We have some South Australian beekeepers who of course can provide some of those pollination services, but nowhere near the volume that is required. Hence, it is important to be able to bring in hives from other jurisdictions.

Throughout the period of the last three years, since varroa was first detected in New South Wales, initially there was an eradication approach. About two years ago, roughly, it was determined nationally that eradication was not feasible and therefore there was a transition to the management approach.

The ability to bring in hives from other jurisdictions relies on strict compliance measures. Permits are required; for example, one must demonstrate, except in exceptional circumstances, that the hives have not come from within 25 kilometres of an infected area. There are a number of other requirements. I would encourage the honourable member to look at the publicly available information, and that will provide her with extra insight.

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