Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Madigan for his second supplementary question. I am advised that the draft condition for the import would require potatoes to be in bags and/or covered on arrival, as the department officials advised at the members and senators briefing. Draft conditions of import would also ensure that all potatoes and all potato waste would be under quarantine management until leaving a factory cooked and frozen in a plastic bag. That quarantine management covers transport from the port to processing facility under a quarantine seal, delivery to a quarantine approved premises and then waste disposal in a quarantine approved manner. Notwithstanding these strict conditions of import, no decision will be made to import potatoes from New Zealand under any circumstance before the contestable science based policy review is finalised. It is important to note that Australia has imported 13,000 tonnes of tomatoes.