Bananas have long been the butt of many jokes, but the Shadow Minister for Northern Australia and Resources, Senator Susan McDonald will be deadly serious when scheduled to question senior trade and agriculture officials in Senate Estimates today over a push by the Philippines to export bananas to Australia.
According to some growers, this will be a move that could devastate one of our most successful horticultural industries.
Senator McDonald said North Queensland growers supply 95% cent of Australia’s bananas, employ around 18,000 people and underpin a $1.3 billion supply chain.
“Australian farmers operate to the highest environmental and employment standards in the world. They comply with reef regulations, vegetation management, quality assurance, Sedex, Farmsafe, chemical management, industrial relations conditions, anti-slavery provisions, amongst others.
“It’s unreasonable that our Australian government would demand our farmers meet these high standards and consider imports of products from nations who do not meet the same standards.”
Senator McDonald warned that importing fruit from overseas could expose Australia to devastating pests and diseases such as Black Sigatoka, Moko, and blood disease, which have crippled banana industries across Asia.
“The Australian banana industry has achieved world-leading biosecurity outcomes, eradicating diseases other nations have never managed to control,” Senator McDonald confirmed.
“I’ll be asking officials to explain why the Philippines is being considered for import approval, and how Australians can have confidence that our strict biosecurity and food-safety standards will be maintained.”
Senator McDonald said she hoped the questioning would give clarity on whether Australian industry experts will be involved in assessing overseas farms and whether Australian growers’ hard-won disease-free status will be protected.
“Australian bananas are available year-round, they are affordable, healthy and safe. We cannot risk all that for the sake of process,” Senator McDonald added.
“We know that once plant and animal diseases enter Australia, it is virtually impossible to get rid of them.”
She added that regulations around child labour and anti-slavery provisions should form part of the government’s assessment. “Various global bodies are campaigning against evidence of forced labour and unsafe workplaces in the Philippines,” Senator McDonald concluded.
