Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to add to Senator Ruston's comments and to Senator Sterle's comments. This was an excellent inquiry. I enjoyed very much meeting beekeepers in other states. The honey industry is very important in Tasmania. My office contacted all the honey producers and beekeepers in the state and sought their feedback and submissions for this inquiry. No doubt in Tasmania there are peculiar circumstances. Each state has points of differentiation on issues for beekeepers. Right across the board the feedback was very strong that we have had a number of inquiries already into the health of the beekeeping industry and it is high time the government acted on the recommendations of this inquiry, which build on recommendations from earlier inquiries. A couple of the witnesses said three strikes and the industry is out. Particular areas are funding from research, cooperation with industry to raise funds particularly concerning agricultural crops and spraying regimes. Senator Ruston talked about access to native forests, which was certainly an issue when we visited Murray Bridge. In Tasmania, access to native forests and deforestation practices have been a major issue. I would like to point out that the honey industry are big supporters of the recent listing of 74,000 hectares of World Heritage forest, which beekeepers will be able to access.

As a winemaker, I thoroughly enjoyed the blind tasting of honey at Murray Bridge. I did not realise honeys were so different and that there is so much differentiation. I think the industry has enormous potential to sell not only the differences in honey from different parts of the country but also the different plant species and forests the bees were working. More research is needed but one issue which became very obvious to the inquiry was the impact of climate change, particularly extreme heat. The industry was very open about climate change. None of them were trying to duck and weave on this issue. Last summer a number of apiaries lost all their bees because of extreme weather. Beekeepers went to great lengths to manage the risks associated with extreme weather events— not just the health of their apiaries but the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, biodiversity and access to resources. These pressures are making it harder and harder for this industry to survive. Senator Siewert, who has also been involved with the inquiry, would throw her weight behind the recommendations of the report and congratulate the committee for all its hard work.