Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday in this place my Tasmanian colleagues spoke about the biosecurity threat in Tasmania and the fruit fly that has been found on Flinders Island and in north-west Tasmania. There have been more developments overnight. We now have confirmation that farms inside the fruit fly exclusion zone are dumping product. They are dumping fruit. Very sadly, we have a farm throwing out 300 kilograms of cherry tomatoes. This is heartbreaking for Tasmanians and for the farmers and workers who have put many hundreds of hours into these crops. It's simply not good enough that the Liberal Hodgman state government cut funding from biosecurity in its first year in office. It cut $1 million from biosecurity in Tasmania.

What's worse is that, since that time, Tasmania has had an influx of visitors. It is so wonderful that so many people are coming to visit our great state, but of course the state government hasn't kept up the presence of biosecurity officers at our ports and airports. When you come into Tasmania you're supposed to be checked to make sure that you're not carrying any fruit. There is supposed to be sniffer dogs at airports and at the Spirit of Tasmania port. I fly regularly and many visitors to Tasmania have told me that this is simply not happening for every flight and for every ship, for every person, coming into our state. That's how fruit fly got into our state. It's the negligence of the state government that has caused this. It's lack of funding and lack of biosecurity officers, and the state government needs to be held accountable. (Time expired)