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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-10-16 Daily Xml
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Varroa Mite

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (15:11): My questions are to the Minister for Primary Industries regarding biosecurity. Do PIRSA or PIRSA inspectors routinely inspect beehives entering South Australia, particularly given the increased risk of varroa mite, and, if not, can the minister inform the chamber under what circumstances post-entry movement inspections are performed?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for her question. Members would be aware of the destructive varroa mite, called in fact the varroa destructor, which was detected in NSW in 2022. There has been a lot of work done since that time and, particularly given we have moved to a management phase nationally in terms of varroa mite, it was essential that there be in place a plan or framework for dealing with varroa.

The national eradication response was initially established and led by New South Wales, but here in South Australia we established a South Australian Varroa Industry Advisory Committee (SAVIAC), which worked very hard in terms of developing the plan for how to deal with varroa. A number of different mechanisms are in place, and I have mentioned some of them in terms of Kangaroo Island, but appreciate that the question that the honourable member asked was about hives coming into South Australia.

Certainly, as a government we remain committed to working closely with interstate and commonwealth agencies, the pollination-dependent industries and the honey bee industry. As such, movement restrictions have been in place since June 2022 for entry of bees and bee commodities into South Australia, and these restrictions are regularly reviewed and updated. Entry of bees and bee commodities are subject to Chief Inspector of Stock permission, with individual applications assessed on a case-by-case basis.

In some ways you could say that South Australia's apiary industry is relatively self-sufficient, only requiring the introduction of queens and the movement of approximately 10,000 hives to support pollination from interstate. That being said, our advice from industry was that it would not be possible to service all of the pollination-dependent industry through the relevant time period without bringing hives in from interstate.

According to my advice, live bees and apiary commodities are permitted from Queensland and Victoria, while only apiary commodities—honey, wax, plant and equipment—are permitted from New South Wales. To minimise the biosecurity risk, these movements may require approved pre-entry treatment and/or testing combined with approved post-entry integrity inspections or testing, management, documentation and notification.

PIRSA also continues to undertake preparedness and planning considerations in preparation for subsequent varroa mite detections in South Australia, should they occur. In the case of the detection of varroa mite in the Riverland recently, that was detected through some surveillance of the particular site and we appreciate all of those who were involved with assisting with that detection and response.

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