Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on a very important issue in the electorate of Richmond. That issue is how the Howard government has abandoned the banana growers of Australia, and in particular the banana growers of northern New South Wales and, of course, those in Queensland who are suffering from the recent devastation of Cyclone Larry. Members on the government side of the House do not take this issue of banana imports seriously. They do not take it at all seriously because they are not concerned about the people of regional and rural Australia. They do not understand the issues that are important to those of us who live in regional and rural areas and how devastating the impact of these decisions are upon our areas.

The Howard government has very recently approved the importation of bananas and has already allowed more than 10 tonnes of frozen bananas from Vietnam into this country. The banana industry has been doing it tough for many years. What is the biggest threat to this industry? It is the importation of bananas and the subsequent importation of pests and diseases which could potentially wipe out an entire industry. The decision that has been made this week by the Howard government is a massive backflip. It is an action that could severely threaten an important industry in regional Australia—and it is a very important industry in my electorate of Richmond.

What I would like to know is exactly what has changed since 16 June this year when the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry ruled out the importation of bananas whilst the import risk assessment process was still happening. This process still has many months to run. The agriculture minister was quoted in the Courier Mail on 17 June 2006 as saying, ‘Importing bananas could mean importing exotic pests and diseases,’ yet this week the Howard government has issued a permit for the importation of frozen bananas for a period of two years and has backdated it to start on 1 June 2006. This is an absolutely dismal betrayal of our local banana growers. I call on the agriculture minister to provide details of any scientific assessment used as a basis for this backflip and also to give an explanation as to why this permit was backdated.

The Howard government’s promises on banana imports have turned out to be just as false as all its other promises. It is, in fact, just another broken promise in a long line of broken promises—broken promises that severely impact the people of regional and rural Australia. The Howard government must come forward and explain the basis upon which it has decided that these banana imports pose no quarantine risk to the Australian banana industry.

Whilst this backflip is clearly a major failure by the Howard government, it is surely a greater failure by the National Party. It absolutely amazes me that National Party members in this House can just sit by and remain silent on this very important and serious issue. They remain silent because they gave up on regional Australia long, long ago. They have sold out on every issue going, whether it is Telstra or industrial relations, and now banana imports. They have not fooled anybody because locals in regional Australia are always telling me that they know firsthand that the National Party will say and do anything to appease their Liberal mates in Canberra. Locals have seen it time and time again. Locals know the National Party have sold them out and they know the National Party have not got the guts to stand up in this House and fight for the bush. Federal Labor will always stand by regional Australia because we take their issues seriously and we understand their concerns.

What angers me most about this banana import decision is that just two weeks ago in Murwillumbah we were celebrating the Banana Festival. This is a fantastic local event that has been running for decades. The festival is a celebration of the banana industry in our area, and everyone gets involved—businesses, community groups and schools. I was very honoured to be a judge at the parade in which over 40 floats participated. I was also honoured that so many locals were involved. I was very proud to see the young women who participated in the Banana Queen event raise over $20,000 for our local community. And it was great to see a local Murwillumbah woman, Sarah Armour, named as the Banana Queen of the year.

What makes me angry is that while we were in Murwillumbah celebrating this great festival, the Howard government, with the complete agreement of the National Party, were scheming to allow the importation of these foreign bananas. It is a shameful disgrace. None of them will stand up in this House and fight for regional Australia. The importation of bananas is a very serious issue, and it is about time members on that side of the House started taking it seriously. The Howard government and the National Party stand condemned for not taking it seriously and not taking the growers’ concerns seriously. (Time expired)