Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Sherry. I refer to comments made on Monday by the Prime Minister of Vietnam regarding Australia pledging to ‘reconsider its quarantine measures on Vietnamese seafood’. As the minister would be aware, Biosecurity Australia have received an enormous amount of scientific evidence that prawns from South-East Asia infected with white spot syndrome virus pose a major risk to our wild catch prawn populations and crustaceans, including lobsters. I ask the minister: what commitments were made by the Prime Minister on relaxing quarantine restrictions against seafood imports from South-East Asia? If there is to be a change of policy, will the minister outline the process the government will take when reconsidering quarantine restrictions against seafood imports and will the scientific evidence that has previously been compiled be considered before that decision is taken?