Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Abetz, Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Minister, the government has decided to import apples from New Zealand, which has been ravaged by the bacterial disease fire blight. Australian growers want to make sure inspection regimes in New Zealand and Australia are up to scratch to reduce the threat of fire blight. But the Australian government has refused to release that information, which means growers have no way of knowing whether inspection is adequate. Minister, given that our $4.5 billion apple and pear industry and the livelihoods of thousands of farmers are at stake, why is the government refusing to release information on the inspection regimes? Is the government afraid that the industry will find the procedure inadequate to protect Australia from fire blight?