Pests & Biosecurity
Australia’s relative geographic isolation and robust biosecurity provisions have helped establish a global reputation for ‘clean, green’ produce. This status provides Australian growers with competitive advantage over orchards in other parts of the world.
While Australia has successfully worked to prevent the entry of significant biosecurity threats such as fire blight, some pests are already within Australia, and in these instances, biosecurity focuses on managing those outbreaks, especially between states and territories.
Where destructive pests have not yet made it to Australia, every effort is being made to keep it that way: once pests like fire blight are introduced, it’s here to stay and could have a detrimental impact on the pome fruit industry.
Given the significant risks to Australian agriculture, APAL believes there is a need to increase the level of public education on the risks associated with imported pest and diseases. A proportion of the proposed Biosecurity Import levy should be set aside for this purpose.
APAL works closely with Plant Health Australia to address plant health issues and manage pest outbreaks.
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