Fruit fly hurting brand, says MP

LOCAL economies are being devastated and the Tasmanian brand is at risk because of the catastrophic fruit-fly outbreak, federal Labor MP Justine Keay says.

As of yesterday there were no more fruit-fly incursion finds and no changes to the control zones.

However, Ms Keay’s NorthWest electorate of Braddon is being hit hard by the outbreak that she says is the result of biosecurity failures through funding and staff cuts at both state and federal levels.

The outbreak, first identified in January, was hurting local economies, jobs and businesses, she said.

Ms Keay said that following the revelations in Senate Estimates Hearings, she had arranged for Labor Senator Carol Brown to ask questions of Plant Health Australia officials regarding Tasmania’s fruit-fly emergency.

“The answers revealed that last year Tasmania participated in a simulated exercise to test the state’s preparedness to deal with exotic fruit-fly incursions,” Ms Keay said.

“The exercise looked at how Tasmania may identify exotic fruit fly and the skills and abilities of the government to deal with an incursion.

“Incredibly the Commonwealth officials claimed to not know the results, what Tasmania was doing well, if anything, and what the shortcomings were.

“It is clear there has been a massive biosecurity failure and Tasmania’s horticulture industry has a right to know how ready Tasmania was?”

Ms Keay said Tasmania’s brand was being damaged and potentially Tasmania’s fruit-fly free status compromised.

Last week, fruit-fly larvae were found at a Devonport supermarket, adding to discoveries last month at Spreyton and on Flinders Island.

The fruit-fly exclusion zone in the state’s North was also extended last week following the discovery of five adult flies and larvae at a backyard orchard at George Town.

Tasmania relies on its fruitfly-free status for access to million-dollar premium markets in Japan, Korea, the US and China.