John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, apple and pear orchardists from across Australia descended upon Parliament House to showcase their produce and launch a report detailing the economic impact of imported applies on the Australian apple industry. Amongst the orchardists from WA, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria were also orchardists from Calare, who brought with them some of their very own home-grown produce from Orange. The Orange region is renowned for being the fruit basket of New South Wales. It is home to some of the best orchards in the state, and yesterday's breakfast was a fantastic showcase of the quality produce from our region.

The launch was a timely response to the government's proposal to rubber-stamp New Zealand apple imports, despite the risk of fire blight, a disease that has the potential to seriously impede the Australian apple and pear industry. Australia is virtually the only country without it. Labor has continued to withdraw spending from agriculture, making cuts across research and development, biosecurity and other farm assistance programs.

In February our Prime Minister stood up in the New Zealand parliament and basically said: 'Bring them in. I love you all. Come on, come on.' Our Prime Minister said, 'Don't worry about fire blight; she'll be right,' and called for the importation of New Zealand apples into Australia. AQIS staff within the department seem to have taken her lead that they should make it as easy as possible to bring New Zealand apples into our country, whatever the risk.

At the launch, one of my local orchardists, Guy Gaeta, made mention of the fact that it was more difficult to get apples into Parliament House than it will be to import apples into Australia from New Zealand under the proposed draft protocols by Biosecurity Australia. It is a disgrace. I hope this week's visit by growers sends a wake-up call to the government.

The government has consistently ignored biosecurity and significantly underinvested in quarantine arrangements. We have already seen with myrtle rust and the Asian honeybee that the government simply will not put the resources, the time and the effort into protecting Australian agriculture, when it can be done. Of the 49 countries that have contracted fire blight, not one country has been able to eliminate it. The current proposed protocols will lead to a very real risk of fire blight. Even worse, as a result of apple imports from New Zealand, China and the US, the industry is expected to lose around $140 million a year. We need to vigorously defend our disease-free reputation and Labor need to wake up to themselves and put the interests of our industry over big-noting themselves on the world stage.

I would like the thank the local orchardists, particularly those from Calare, for coming to Parliament House and taking a stand against high-risk apple imports, which, without appropriate protocols in place that complement WTO rules, have the potential to impact Australian growers. They know the government has put their livelihoods at stake. They are well aware of the risk of fire blight and the damage it will and could have on our industry.

The final date for submissions on Australia's import protocols is 4 July 2011. I urge orchardists and fellow Australians to make submissions, because if the current recommendations are adopted it downgrades our imports way beyond anything the WTO are saying. It risks fire blight and severely risks the whole Australian apple and pear industry.