Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The horticulture industry in Victoria is facing an unbelievable crisis on the back of the total inaction from the Daniel Andrews government in Victoria. Unpicked fruit is now being left by the pickers—fruit that would be picked each and every year. The farmers are now having to go through the heartbreaking role of going into the orchards, picking their very best fruit and leaving 20 to 30 per cent of perfectly good fruit on the trees because they have been unable to get the labour force they need.

On 11 December, after some heated questioning at the national cabinet, Daniel Andrews faced the media and acknowledged that he had a role and a responsibility to bring 15,000 to 20,000 workers into Victoria. He acknowledged that this was his responsibility, and he acknowledged that other states had already moved in this area. He acknowledged that the Northern Territory had already brought in mango pickers from the Pacific islands, where they were free of the virus. He then acknowledged that Queensland had brought in pickers from the Pacific islands and put them into quarantine, on farm protocol. That state and that territory were able to put in place the pickers they needed, and the federal government facilitated all the way through. All the way through, that state and that territory—both Labor governments, by the way—were able to get the assistance they needed with a very quick phone call. We effectively had the federal government stamping the visas and allowing these people to come in, but the guidelines and the protocols for the movements of the pickers were put in place by the states. The pickers were sourced by the states. This is the states' responsibility.

Ms Collins interjecting—

Why on earth would the member for Franklin want to come in and somehow or other start being untruthful about this? The quarantine process is put in place purely by the states. We have told Victoria—and Daniel Andrews has acknowledged this—that it is their responsibility to get these pickers into Victoria. So Daniel Andrews has now made a decision to bring in 1,500 pickers. We didn't make that decision; he made the decision to bring in 1,500 workers. Daniel Andrews has put in place a time line that will probably run post the end of the financial year, when all of the fruit will have already dropped on the ground and rotted.

Normally inaction is a course taken by the bureaucracy and the departments who don't want to do anything different to what has already been done. Normally it's a safe pair of hands just to do nothing. But doing nothing in this area has been incredibly damaging. It is going to cost $350 million minimum—that is the cost that they are putting on the farms. Not only that; there is the opportunity of creating a Queensland fruit fly phenomenon that they'll never be able to get back on top of. Normally a few fruit falling on the ground in backyard orchards in the towns creates a huge problem for getting on top of Queensland fruit fly. But to have literally thousands of tonnes lying on the ground around the orchards is going to create an absolute haven for Queensland fruit fly and create serious problems into the future because we've been unable to get this fruit off the trees.

It is one thing for a government to have a gigantic failure. I understand it. They're absolutely scared senseless that they're going to bring the virus into Victoria. I get that. But they showed that they could do it for the tennis championships. To bring the Australian Open and to make it work, they've taken huge risks, and it looks like they may get through this. But, if they can take huge risks for a tennis tournament, surely they can take lesser risks, because they're not bringing these pickers in from countries that are rife with the virus; they're bringing these pickers in from areas that are clean. They have proven that they can take these risks for the Australian Open, but they've also proven that they will not take any risks for the people of the horticultural industry, and it's a disgrace.

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