Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Earlier today, the members for Braddon, Bass and Lyons made an appeal to governments, plural, to start taking Australia's biosecurity more seriously. Their immediate concern is the incursion of fruit fly into Tasmania for the first time, which will be devastating or potentially devastating for the Apple Isle. This comes soon after the outbreak of white spot disease in our prawn sector in Queensland.

There is much talk in this place and, indeed, in the parliament in Hobart about the wonderful opportunities presented to us by growing global demand for quality food. Those opportunities are indeed significant. But our key competitive advantage—and we do have significant competitors—is our reputation as a provider of clean, green, safe food. If we were ever to lose that reputation and that competitive advantage, of course, no-one in our agricultural sector would be able to compete on the international markets as they do today.

If you do a google search on ChAFTA and the free trade agreements with Japan and South Korea, along with Barnaby Joyce or David Littleproud or even the Prime Minister, you will get plenty of results. But do a google search on the member for New England and biosecurity and I guarantee you will find very few results. Until this government starts taking biosecurity seriously, we'll be undermined in our efforts in international markets. (Time expired)

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