Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to present a petition which has been through the Standing Committee on Petitions. There are 1,129 signatures which are a real cry from the heart from the mothers, fathers and children of my electorate. These people are pleading for recognition of the crisis that now engulfs our preserved fruit industry. The people around Cobram in the Murray Valley and also in the Goulburn Valley around Shepparton East, right throughout our magnificent fruit growing region, have had an enormous shock because imported fruits from China and South Africa and tomatoes from Italy have been so cheap they have been snapped up readily by the big two supermarkets in particular, Coles and Woolworths. They have been used in their generic or home brands so comprehensively that now you find this imported fruit being sold in Australia at or below the cost of production of magnificent fruit in our country. So a tragic decision was made by SPC Ardmona very recently—they are owned by Coca-Cola Amatil—to cancel entirely the contracts for supply of fruit to their factory next year from half of their growers. The other half have had their contracts halved. In either case, you are looking at a farm business which is no longer viable.

These 1,129 or so signatures are from the ordinary men, women and families—the workers from my electorate—who say this affects us all. This is not just about several hundred fruit growers or the 600 or so people who work in the SPC Ardmona factories. This is to do with the sporting teams and the schools. This is to do with the churches and the community centres, Agriculture is the foundation of the economy and provides the first step into jobs—whether it is picking, pruning, packing or in the transport sector. It is no wonder that there were 32 separate commercial outlets who had these petitions on their counters as the signatures were collected. It included places like the Europa Deli, the Shepparton Optical, all of the local hotels, Damian White Real Estate and the RSL. These businesses understood that the crisis and tragedy of our cannery fruit industry was also the community's crisis. There are another 3,500 signatures already collected on additional petitions and I will be presenting those out of parliamentary time as they are aggregated.

I have to say that I am very pleased that this government has now passed on the application for a safeguard WTO sanctioned action which could give us 200 days of duties imposed on these imported fruits to give some breathing space to SPC Ardmona while they do different things with their technology and hopefully give us breathing space where Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and the other supermarkets stop buying this super cheap imported product—product that often is not sufficiently checked at the borders for biosecurity safety because we all know about the slashing of quarantine services in this country, particularly inspection services. We want this safeguard action to be put in place urgently. I have to say I was alarmed when the minister said the inquiry into whether a safeguard action is warranted should be done urgently but it could be three months. Three months is a very long time to continue to have damage done to this industry through dirt cheap imports. And I emphasise the words 'dirt cheap'.

Let me also say that there is a need for an anti-dumping action to be considered. The product coming into this country is the same as that which has been coming into New Zealand for quite some time, and they have had anti-dumping actions against these same countries for the same products. This has given their fruit growing industry a chance to compete by levelling the price at the border through anti-dumping duties. Australia needs to use the totally lawful WTO sanctioned measures that are put in place when there is unconscionable behaviour from an importer

We have not brought in these sorts of actions like safeguards or anti-dumping in nearly the same number of episodes as our competitors, countries like China, have invoked. We rarely invoke an anti-dumping action in Australia or safeguard measure. I am pleased this government is now doing that but I am certainly concerned that it is a matter of timing and I want to emphasise that these signatures are placed on these petitions with the real hope that other people are listening to the plight of our Australian orchardists and manufacturers because, quite frankly, once these trees are bulldozed, which is now happening, you are not going to see again a fruit-growing industry like we have had in northern Victoria.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of certain citizens of Australia

Draws to the attention of the House to the fact that SPC Ardmona can no longer compete with very low cost imported preserved fruit and tomatoes. This is forcing growers and the industry to abandon orchards and retrench workers.

We therefore ask the House to ensure the relevant ministers impose a World Trade Organisation consistent Emergency Safeguard Measure which will make imported preserved fruit and tomatoes compete on a more level playing field.

We also urgently request support of an industry survival package to give the growers and related workers a future.

from 1,129 citizens

Petition received.