Name: Rees Attwood
Email: rees@redrichfruits.com.au
Phone: (03) 5964 4596
Conntry: Australia
Postcode: 3139
Comments:
I am writing on behald of Red Rich Fruits, apple growers in the Yarra Valley of Victoria for
more than 60 years.
We hold grave concerns about the possibility of exotic pests and disease entering this country with the unrestricted importation of apples from New Zealand and other countries. Red Rich Fruits employs over 60 people arid makes a significant contribution to the local econmoy. In fact we are one of the largest employers in the area and our business is now under threat due to the unrestricted importation of foreign grown apples.
Biosecurty Australia's announcement that standard orchard practices in New Zealand can be adopted as a quarantine standard sufficient to protect Australia from a number of extremely damaging pests is of grave concern to us.
As Australian growers we have orchard practices that are just as stringent as the New Zealanders use but we are not allowed to export apples to many countries because they do not accept our orchard practices to control fruit fly. In fact, all horticultural industries in virtually all countries have standard practices designed to mininmize the risk and spread of pests and diseases but the efficacy of those practices depends on many factors that are not always in the control of the orchadist and industry personnel.
These issues include:
- how standard practices are interpreted or applied which often differ from grower to grower;
- how to stop people abusing or ignoring the procedures (in New Zealand there appears to be no single organisation that manages/audits the standard practices across all export orchards);
- major climatic events causing disease spread;
- the pressure of pests on farm neighbours and the efficiency with which the pests are controlled.
We believe that the following changes should be implemented before the draft recommendations for New Zealand apple imports are accepted:
- That where a pre-harvest outbreak of fire blight is detected, fruit from that block or orchard be excluded from export to Australia.
- When a heavy infestation of apple leaf curling midge or leaf rollers occur in an orchard, that either the fruit is excluded or fumigated.
- The from each consignment a substantial number of cartons should be inspected to ensure that no trash such as leaves or twigs, that could potentially carry fire blight could enter our country. Should trash be found these suppliers should be excluded from exporting to Australia until a review of procedures is completed.
- High risk areas for European Canker such as Auckland and Otago be excluded from exporting to Australia.
- Should there be a regional outbreak of fire blight, trade be suspended until a review of procedures and alternative protocols are established.
We believe these practices are consistent with practices applied by other countries to implement sanitaryphyosanitary agreements and there is no reason why Australia should not adopt the same standards. By trusting New Zealanders without verifying their practices through an open and transparent audit system, we are putting our industry in the hands of growers in another cOlmtry who stand to gain commercially from exporting to Australia. That is not the way we want to do business and ask that DAFF do what you can to adopt the above measures to protect our industry, our families and our communities fi'om some of the worst known pests and diseases in horticulture.
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