asked the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, in writing, on 2 March 2011:

What financial assistance is the Government providing to the honeybee industry to help eradicate the threat posed to food security and biodiversity by the Asian honeybee, found in North Queensland.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has provided the following answer to the honourable member's question:

The Commonwealth has contributed $1.2 million to the national Asian honeybee eradication program, which is 50 per cent of the government costs of the nationally cost shared program. The Commonwealth also provided funding to the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, which produced a report on "Estimating the Potential Public Cost of the Asian Honeybee Incursion", at a cost of $5,000.