Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

The private members motion which I have moved today represents an opportunity for the government to show that it does care about Australian agriculture and that it does understand the concerns of banana growers. Across the farming and horticultural sector the Rudd government’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is starting to be referred to as the minister for Punchbowl. Members would all be aware that Punchbowl is a major part of the minister’s city seat. There is, of course, nothing wrong with Punchbowl, except that members would be aware that it is not a region renowned for its agricultural production.

Farmers are becoming increasingly concerned that the government’s minister for agriculture is demonstrating that he has no understanding, no empathy and no comprehension of many of the key issues which relate to agriculture. Instead of standing up for the sector which he is meant to represent, we now have a minister who is simply becoming an apologist for the poor policies of the Rudd government. The issue of importing bananas from the Philippines is a prime example. The Australian banana industry has more than 800 growers and employs some 5,000 people. Despite declining prices for their excellent product, the industry survives because growers operate efficiently and because they produce quality product which is essentially disease free. That will all be at risk if the Rudd Labor government gives the green light to the importation of bananas from the Philippines.

There are many reasons that we should not permit bananas to be imported from the Philippines. There is the risk of disease, there is the threat to our food security and there is the impact on banana-growing communities if such an industry were shut down. However, the overwhelming issue here relates to the science and risk management measures which have been applied in Biosecurity Australia’s import risk assessment of Filipino bananas. There is a real threat of disease from these imports which could wipe out our local industry. The Australian banana industry boasts a clean green image. Unlike in many other countries, our bananas are relatively disease free. That makes the Australian banana a quality product and the envy of many other nations. It therefore defies belief that the Rudd Labor government would consider permitting bananas to be imported from a country which has a disease record as prevalent as the Philippines has.

Biosecurity Australia’s import risk assessment into Philippine bananas is long on rhetoric and short on detail, particularly in relation to the risk management measures aimed at preventing disease being imported into Australia. It is of great concern that our national industry is dependent on processes taking place in the Philippines. Of primary concern is BA’s visual inspection process which they say will be put in place to mitigate the threat of disease. We have no idea who is going to conduct these inspections. We have no idea how thoroughly it will be conducted. We have no idea as to whether those being charged with the responsibility of protecting Australia’s interests may be subject to a conflict of interest. Will Australian quarantine officers be inspecting the bananas on the ground or will they be hiring Filipino contractors to perform this role? What processes are in place to guarantee the integrity of these inspections? How comprehensive will these inspections be? How comprehensive will the sampling process be? I see the member for Kennedy in here and he is obviously concerned about the import of bananas into this country. There are also significant costs in relation to this process. Who will bear the costs? What processes are in place to check whether there is any prospect that there is corruption in this process?

We all remember the EI outbreak, which almost brought the equestrian industry to its knees. That was caused by an AQIS mistake. That was something we were able to recover from, but with the banana industry there are no second chances. For the benefit of members, let me put on the record for the House that once a foreign disease enters into this country there will be little or no chance of eradicating it. From that point of view and that point of view alone, the risk of importing Filipino bananas is just too great.

The recent inquiry by the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport ordered that, prior to any permit being issued for Filipino banana imports, AQIS and BA shall provide the committee with a detailed list of the risk management measures and the administrative requirements relating to them. The important part of the committee’s recommendations is that they focused not on the theory of how this might work and the procedure manual that is dumped in the corner and disregarded. They were more concerned with how these risk management measures would work commercially on the ground in the Philippines—the actual way they would work in practice, not in theory.

During a visit to my electorate by the National Party leadership team of Warren Truss and Senators Joyce, Nash and Scullion, we took the opportunity to meet with a number of banana growers. We met with Ron Gray, Wally Gateley, David Pike and David Tate in Coffs Harbour. They were very concerned about the prospect of banana imports. They were very concerned, indeed. They were very concerned about the fact that, in the area of the Coffs Coast and around Coffs Harbour, if disease was to get into those plantations on the steep hillsides where access for machinery is very difficult it would be virtually impossible to eradicate. So any imported disease whatsoever would be the end of the Australian banana industry. That is of great concern. Coffs Harbour banana growers do not want to see their industry decimated. Coffs Harbour banana growers do not mind fair competition, but they do not want competition that is going to introduce diseases and pests which will be impossible to eradicate, which will decimate our industry and which will be bad for Australia in general.

The growers also raised the issue of food security. The fact is that we have had drought in this country and the world’s growing population means that, more than ever, Australia needs to be able to guarantee that it is able to feed itself and that it is able to continue to produce high-quality fruit and vegetables into the future. Importing Filipino bananas can only work against that end.

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