Federal Member for Farrer, Sussan Ley, has expressed her concern after the recent discovery of a pregnant Queensland fruit fly in Mildura last week, saying this is a wake up call for governments, pest authorities and the public.
Ms Ley said that although the Victorian Department of Primary Industries (DPI) acted swiftly, enforcing a 15 kilometre quarantine restriction zone, large losses have already been incurred by table grape growers in the area.
“This single female Queensland fruit fly, found in a trap in suburban Mildura, has cost Sunraysia its fruit fly free status and shut down the export of at least $12 million worth of local table grapes to New Zealand” Ms Ley said.
According to the Australian Table Grape Association Inc. last year table grapes were Australia’s largest horticultural export, with revenues of $180 million and 99% of table grapes coming from the Sunraysia area.
In 2004 more than 50,000 tonnes of Australian table grapes were exported - equal to about 45% of total production. Estimated to be worth $135 million, table grapes are Australia's second highest export earning horticulture industry after citrus.
Ms Ley said more funding needs to be spent on quarantine road blocks into the Sunraysia and the federal and state governments should fund a hard hitting public education campaign to highlight the damage done by thoughtless movement of fruit across barriers.
“It seems the public is becoming too complacent (about declaring fruit at roadblocks) and not taking the issue seriously. This recent detection goes to show how serious this is to growers – in this case it only took one fly to declare an outbreak”.
Ms Ley also criticised the closure of the Commonwealth DNA testing program which provided valuable scientific information about the fly’s movements. “The testing program enabled flies to be traced back to their source, identifying the regional strain and throwing light on how they might have entered the fruit-fly free zone.”
“Sadly this demonstrates the Rudd Government’s lack of interest in rural sciences and follows their slashing of 25% from the Agricultural Research and Development budget soon after coming to office.”
Queensland fruit fly is one of the world's worst horticultural pests and is known to attack a wide range of host plants, lowering production and making fruit inedible, with severe consequences for local and international trade.
Further information on Queensland fruit fly is available through the Victorian Department of Primary Industries - www.dpi.vic.gov.au or by telephoning 136 186.
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Media contact: Debbie Brown (02) 60213264 0428 297 699