Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

About two Saturdays ago I was pleased to be asked to be involved in the opening of what is called the Karragullen Field Day in my electorate. Karragullen is an area in the Hills in my electorate, and the field day was hosted by a group called HOIG, which means Hills Orchard Improvement Group. This group is led by an enthusiastic and talented young gentleman by the name of Brett Del Simone, ably supported by his father Bruno Del Simone and the committee of HOIG that fiercely advocate for the Hills Orchard Improvement Group and the orchards and the industry that is in the Perth Hills. It provides fresh stone fruit and apples, and it provides Western Australians with an export market into near Asia and other markets.

Unfortunately, this group has had to fight long and hard because the federal government, through the APVMA, have brought in a ban on the only spray that deals with Mediterranean fruit fly in stone fruit. That spray is called fenthion, otherwise known as Lebaycid. This ban will see the prospect of the demise of this industry. It will not exist after fenthion has been withdrawn, because it is the only known spray that can intervene in the life cycle of the fruit fly maggot right from egg to adult.

There are alternatives, and they have been successfully rolled out in other parts of Australia and the world. That is what they call areawide management where you clean up your orchard, you bait your orchard and you generally keep the hygiene of your orchard. But all these management tools require a cover spray. In South Australia, they eradicated Mediterranean fruit fly because they bred sterile male fruit flies, which saw the demise of the fruit fly in that area. Perversely, these male sterile flies were bred in Western Australia and then shipped to South Australia. We as Western Australians did not get the use of those sterile male flies. However, the South Australian government has gradually withdrawn funding. We are now seeing threats to the stone fruit industry in South Australia as result of this. The state government, through the agricultural department, has been very remiss in not putting resources into the stone fruit industry and the pome fruit industry in this area. Unfortunately, because they are small in number, they do not necessarily attract the attention that other industries in agriculture might.

The APVMA, which I have described here before as essentially an out-of-control activist group in this particular environment, has been infiltrated by activist scientists who are hell-bent on withdrawing fenthion. Fenthion has not caused one recorded incident of health problems anywhere in the world during the 60 years it has been produced. However, the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee did a survey on this issue after the APVMA said there were hundreds of incidences all over the world which would require fenthion's banning. They admitted that they could only come up with one non-peer reviewed article published 35 years ago in America. That was the only one they hung their hat on to destroy this industry. They also said the APVMA's decision is in part based on conclusions that a young child eating certain fruits and vegetables could—I stress, could—be exposed to residues of fenthion that are higher than the public health standards allow. It has never happened. They have banned this spray—the only effective spray.

I am disappointed that federal Minister Barnaby Joyce did not take a stronger hand with the APVMA. There should be an inquiry into the APVMA and its activist behaviour. This group needs greater support from all of us here. The only thing that mitigates this is that Bayer, the producers of fenthion, are going to stop producing fenthion. This is not because of its threat but because of successful alternatives elsewhere in the world. Samurai is an alternative, but it is not a replacement for fenthion.