Henry of Harcourt Cidermakers
The Apple Bites Back
219 Reservoir Road
Harcourt, VIC. 3453
Phone (03) 5474 2177
Fax (03) 5474 3018
email-ddhemy@bigpond.net.au
Office of the Chief Executive
Biosecurity Australia
GPO Box 858
CanbelTa ACT 2601
Dear Sir,
Submission - Apple Imports.
We run a small orchard and commercial apple cider production facility at Harcourt in Central Victoria. We process the majority of the fruit we grow into Apple Cider and do not engage in the fresh fruit market, so the economic impact of fruit imports does not directly affect us and is not the concern of this submission.
The possible introduction of fire blight, European canker and apple leaf curling midge
is of concern to us for the following reasons:
- Potential loss of production, especially of pears.
- Increased cost of control measures.
- The need to spray more chemicals when we are actively working towards a minimal spray regime.
- The unknown susceptibility of the very old cider apple and perry pear varieties that we grow.
Whilst in an ideal world, we would continue to protect Australia's Sovereign Right by not importing fruit from countries where these pests are prevalent; the reality is that we must accept imports.
Biosecurity Australia. has spent an enormous amount of time and money developing its IRA and subsequent import protocols and it now seems to have thrown the whole lot out the window and will allow fruit into Australia under vague protocols defined as standard commercial orchard practice in NZ.
I believe that NZ has a number of export protocols ranging from very stringent to moderately relaxed. Which will apply to Australia, the one for UK supermarkets or the one for Russia?
Why is Australia now accepting import protocols that we have absolutely no control over?
Will countries such as Japan, China, Taiwan and even NZ now accept standard orchard practices in Australia as a substitute for their current stringent requirements on Australia exports?
Biosecurity Australia. should be allowed to impose sensible protocols on import risks in order to protect Australia from unwanted pests and diseases without POLITICAL INTERFERENCE.
Australia must insist on applying import protocols that are under the control of Australian Authorities not foreign fmmers that are keen to develop new export markets at any cost.
Yours faithfully
Drew D. Henry
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