Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate that I will support the second reading of the Biosecurity Bill 2014, because our biosecurity framework does need to be revamped. I know enormous work has been done by the previous government and, indeed, by this government and the Minister for Agriculture, the Hon. Barnaby Joyce. I support the second reading stage of this bill being passed, but I still reserve my position in terms of a number of amendments that have been put up by the opposition relating to the framework of this bill and how it would work. I expect that I will be speaking to the agriculture minister later today or this evening—in fact, by tomorrow morning—in respect of those matters.

I have attended a number of inquiries in respect of biosecurity, and a number of my colleagues have been at these inquiries too. The most recent that I recollect was about potatoes. There is a real concern that bringing in fresh potatoes from New Zealand could subject our potato industry to the real risk of zebra chip disease. Zebra chip disease, for those who are not familiar with it, is a pretty nasty disease that can affect potatoes. It is a disease that Australia is free of at the moment, but in New Zealand they have a real problem in managing the zebra chip disease. The disease means that once you cook a potato it has black-and-white stripes like a zebra in the potato. It is rendered inedible because of the high sugar content. That is something that, if it gets into Australia, if it infects our potato crops, will have disastrous implications. It will affect the viability of the potato industry; it will mean enormous costs in dealing with zebra chip disease and the like.

There is another disease from New Zealand—I am not picking on the Kiwis—