Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon in the adjournment debate to bring the attention of the parliament to a very serious problem which is threatening the livelihood of fruit growers on the Granite Belt in my electorate of Maranoa and at the same time to present a petition regarding the flying foxes and damage mitigation permits that would be required to militate against the devastation that flying foxes cause on fruit orchards on the Granite Belt.

The petition read as follows—

To the honourable The Speaker and members of the House of Representatives

This petition of citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House:

• The desperate and uncertain situation facing Southern Darling Downs fruit growers who have been banned from using humane lethal deterrents to protect their orchards from the threat of flying foxes this coming harvest season;
• The absence of an alternative, reliable, proven and affordable non-lethal method to deter flying foxes from roosting in orchards and damaging fruit crops;
• The adverse impact the Queensland Government’s revocation of Damage Mitigation Permits will have on the viability of orchards across the Southern Darling Downs and Granite Belt;
• The potential health risk for orchardists who will be in close contact with flying foxes, which are natural reservoirs for deadly diseases, such as the Hendra Virus.

We therefore ask the House to:

• recognise the importance of protecting these orchards, which provide Australia with clean, green fruit;
• recognise the possibility of the mutation of viruses carried by flying foxes and the potential health risk for humans should these diseases be capable of direct bat-to-human transmission;
• recognise shooting of the Flying Fox ‘scout’ is an effective, safe and humane method to deter flying foxes from roosting in orchards;
• intervene to pressure the Queensland Government to immediately reinstate Damage Mitigation Permits until a reliable, proven and affordable non-lethal alternative can be implemented to protect fruit orchards from flying foxes.

from 220 citizens

Petition received.

The Granite Belt boasts highly reputable wineries and fruit orchards. However, their viability is being threatened by a city-centric state Labor government which cares more about securing the green vote than they do about orchardists who grow our apples, grapes, cherries, olives and other stone fruit—peaches and nectarines in abundance. As I speak in the House this afternoon I know that many of those people will be out there harvesting this year’s crop.

Last year the Bligh government revoked the damage mitigation permits and imposed a ban on using lethal methods to control flying fox populations. Despite their promise to have a non-lethal deterrent put in place in time for the next season, which is the season currently before us, they are nowhere near ready and so the Granite Belt orchards remain available and in danger of being destroyed by flying foxes as they colonise at this time. Why would they do that? There is an abundance of fruit. It is not a natural habitat. It has been made by orchardists who have put in orchards for their own income to sustain their families.

This is not only an issue for the viability of these orchards and the families they support; it is also a very serious health issue. Bats are a natural reservoir for many deadly diseases, including the Hendra virus. Recently in Queensland, in Rockhampton, the veterinarian Alister Rodgers tragically lost his life after contracting the disease from an infected horse. It may be only a matter of time before this virus could be transmitted directly from bat to human. I am strongly against the mindless culling of these animals, but look at what is happening in Victoria and within five minutes drive of where these orchards are which I visited recently on the granite belt in New South Wales. You could be given a damage mitigation permit to use a method which had been used for many years and that is the humane destruction of the scout bats which go in to establish an area where bats could colonise—but not in Queensland. It is more about Green votes, not about the health of orchardists nor the viability of these orchards.

In order for us to protect one of the strongest fruit growing regions in Queensland, if not Australia, their viability is essential. I visited one of these orchards only recently and they gave me some of the new season apricots and nectarines. They said they will get better and better as the season goes on. The problem is that, as bats colonise the area, they will attack, as they did last year when they took something like 40 per cent of the fruit in these orchards, particularly the apples. The state government have said that they will put in a scientific approach to the control of these bats. They are already picking out there, harvesting the fruit, but the alternative method, as the Queensland minister would have it, is not even in place. Yet these families and the fruit pickers are going to go out there and each day they will be at risk of being infected by a virus which we know has deadly consequences.

It may be that at the moment it is transmitted by horses, but it is only a matter of time—as we have seen with the swine flu and all the other viruses that humans can contract—before it mutates and goes direct from the host to humans. This is a very serious issue. I am calling on the state Labor minister to make sure that these orchardists are able to use the same mitigation measures as they are across the border in New South Wales and down in Victoria. That is the only way they can guarantee the health and safety of this wonderful fruit—

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