Stone Visits New Zealand to see Fire Blight Protocols Firsthand
October 19, 2011
Stone Visits New Zealand to see Fire Blight Protocols Firsthand
Sharman Stone, Federal Member for Murray, is currently in New Zealand for 2 days at the invitation of the New Zealand Government to look at how effectively they say they are managing the quarantine rules that relate to exporting fresh apples from New Zealand to Australia.
Sharman Stone said that whatever she sees in orchards and packing sheds nothing changes the fact that Australia’s orchardists are not allowed to see the protocols or procedures that the New Zealand orchardists and packing houses are supposed to follow when sending their apples out to Australia.
“It’s amazing to think that Biosecurity Australia and orchardists are supposed to accept a pig in a poke. No other product or fruit or vegetable have such secrecy surrounding the rules for procedures required to meet export standards.
“We have already had a breakdown in the quarantine with the curling leaf midge found in amongst apples as well as leaf trash. This curling leaf midge has survived months of cold storage given they are not fresh apples that are being exported to Australia.
“While Biosecurity might say that they’re doing a brilliant job finding the leaves and the midges, the problem is the European canker and apple and pear fire blight is microscopic and you cannot see these organisms on the apples. We have to presume that if the midges are there, that the protocols are equally ineffective when it comes to the bacteria streams,” Sharman Stone said.
She is also concerned about the impact of Streptomycin on the health of orchard workers in New Zealand where the chemical has to be used to kill the bacterial infections on the fruit trees.
The New Zealand Government has invited the delegation of 4 members of Parliament from the Coalition from Australia to visit their orchards. Sharman Stone said that while it is important to accept the offer from the New Zealand Government, she certainly has some serious questions to ask given our area grows the vast majority of Australia’s pears and the best apples.