Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Parke family are fourth generation fruit growers in Donnybrook in the south-west of Western Australia. My great-grandfather John Stanley Parke was the first person to export Granny Smith apples and he did so in 1922 through the port of Fremantle. I grew up on the apple orchard that my dad, George Parke, still operates today. So it was natural that I would attend an event this morning held by the Australian apple and pear industry. The issue of overwhelming concern to the growers is in relation to the prospective importation of apples from New Zealand and the recent announcement by Biosecurity Australia that standard orchard practices in New Zealand are to be regarded as a sufficient quarantine standard when it comes to protecting the Australian industry from the possible transmission of pests and diseases that New Zealand has but Australia does not. By far the worst is the bacterial disease fire blight, which is fatal to pear trees and severely impacts on apples. My father has told me that the accidental introduction of fire blight to Italy some years ago wiped out 14,000 hectares of pears in a few years. Once fire blight has been established it has never been eradicated from any country. It is the horticultural equivalent of the cane toad. The only known spray to limit the damage of fire blight is the antibiotic spray streptomycin—a banned spray in Australia. Given the significant risk to our disease- and pest-free status, I regard as entirely reasonable the request by the Australian apple and pear industry that any new importation arrangements with New Zealand must apply the highest inspection and monitoring standards to ensure Australia remains disease free. The industry and the Australian community are entitled to expect such a commitment from government.