Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak tonight on the motion that the member for Barker brings to the chamber. The motion calls on the government to instruct the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to increase the testing on imported orange juice concentrate to ensure that the fungicide Carbendazim is not present at levels which would risk public health. I understand the member's concerns, representing as he does the Riverland area of South Australia in his electorate of Barker. I also understand that Australian citrus producers, including those in the Riverland, provide a quality product and that the importation of orange juice concentrate is seen by some as a threat to the local industry. I see many parallels with the fate faced by many manufacturers in my own electorate of Throsby where we do not grow too many oranges. We do consume a fair bit of orange juice but we do not grow too many oranges. I understand that the Australian citrus producers, including those of the Riverland, produce a quality product and that the importation of orange juice, particularly orange juice which is infected or contaminated by the fungicide which is identified in this motion, not only threatens the product but it threatens the quality and the confidence of the entire market for orange juice.

The Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicines Authority, APVMA, is responsible for the regulation of chemicals that are used on food crops and animals, and the Food Standards Australia New Zealand, FSANZ, is responsible for ensuring safety in the food supply. These organisations are responsible for determining a safe residue level of Carbendazim in foods that Australians will consume. I have been advised that FSANZ is not currently aware of any test results in which Carbendazim levels in orange juice have been above this safe level, with the highest to date being 0.8 parts per million—well below the current limit.

While it is true that the United States has moved to ban imports of Brazilian orange juice concentrates due to traces of Carbendazim, we also understand that the United States is a net exporter of citrus juice with the states of Florida and California producing more than 11 million tonnes of orange juice each year. Australia is clearly not in the same position.

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