John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Ludwig. In the only visible alteration made by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to its 2009 import risk analysis, the department updated the scientific name of the bacteria causing zebra chip disease using an article entitled 'Tuber transmission of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum and its association with zebra chip on potato in New Zealand', which was published in the 2011 peer-reviewed European Journal of Plant Pathology. Can the minister explain why the department did not also mention that, in contradiction to advice given by DAFF, the entire basis of this article was that potato tubers can transmit the zebra chip disease between potatoes without the aid of tomato-potato psyllid?