Southern farmer in stoush with MPI
A South Canterbury farmer says being fined for not declaring his dirty boots at the border is an ‘‘injustice’’ and his fight is ‘‘not over yet’’.
Jeremy Talbot, 63, appeared before two Justices of the Peace in the Christchurch District Court yesterday for making an erroneous declaration – an offence under the Biosecurity Act. Talbot – an agricultural machinery dealer and former South Canterbury Federated Farmers Arable section chairman – told the court he was a member of the organisation’s biosecurity committee.
But a Federated Farmers spokesperson confirmed Talbot was a member, but said it did not have a biosecurity committee.
Four Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) staff appeared as witnesses at yesterday’s trial.
The court heard Talbot was returning from a six-day work trip to the United Kingdom on December 10 last year, when a quarantine officer at Christchurch International Airport noted he had skipped a section of his passenger arrival card.
The official repeatedly asked him to say what countries he had visited in the previous month, but Talbot replied: ‘‘I’ve just been overseas … I’m from New Zea
land.’’ The man said Talbot became increasingly impatient, and he sent him to have his luggage X-rayed.
The X-ray machine operator detected organic matter on the soles of a pair of boots, and asked another staff member to search Talbot’s bag. ‘‘My inspection revealed the shoes to be contaminated with plant material and with soil,’’ he said.
The man described Talbot as ‘‘confrontational from the start’’. Multiple staff members saw him demanding the man’s personal details and threatening to call Minister for Primary Industries Damien O’Connor.
Talbot was issued a $400 infringement notice, but left without paying. Talbot claimed the MPI employee was aggressive.
Justice of the Peace Andrew Webster fined Talbot $400 and ordered him to pay $30 court costs and $500 to MPI.