David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Quite right. Thank you, Deputy President. I can assure you that that is a term I will be using with zeal at the appropriate moment. The Vietnamese Prime Minister’s comments concerning the prawn risk are what brought these matters before Senator Boswell. Those comments by the Vietnamese Prime Minister were something to the effect that—and I do not have the exact words in front of me—the Australian government had agreed to review its quarantine and biosecurity arrangements pertaining to prawn imports.

This government has already clarified that in fact those comments by the Vietnamese Prime Minister are incorrect. Those matters have already been dealt with—and, I might say, dealt with quite thoroughly—by the minister in question time. The Australian government continues to maintain a strong regard for its quarantine and biosecurity arrangements. In contrast to the previous government, this is a government that has taken on both these issues generally and the question of prawn imports and prawn imports from Vietnam in particular very seriously. No shabby interim set of arrangements or draft reports will be going forward and managing this area for this government; this is a government that will be dealing with the matter in a proper and considered and holistic manner. (Time expired)