The Palaszczuk Labor Government has shown an appalling short-sightedness in its refusal to contribute to an industry led proposal to buy-out the Panama Disease affected banana farm, west of Tully.
I have waited for almost 12 months to speak publicly about this issue, due to the sensitive negotiations that were underway in relation to the most serious biosecurity issue the Queensland banana industry has ever faced.
That is of course, the battle against Panama Disease Tropical Race 4 and in particular, the efforts to prevent it from spreading after it was originally identified in March 2015, which has included a range of measures and activities undertaken by Biosecurity Queensland.
I’m not criticising those efforts and I recognise the industry proposal to the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments - to buy out the property, destroy the plants and cease production - was not without risk, but the Palaszczuk Government should have supported it. This demonstrated that Labor and in particular the former Agriculture Minister, Bundaberg MP Leanne Donaldson, had a complete lack of understanding about the importance of the proposal to the banana industry. When I wrote to the former Agriculture Minister to support the industry buy back proposal in December 2015, that one infected property was the only known location of the disease in North Queensland and that remains the case to this day.
At the time the industry put the proposal up, the affected property represented the single greatest risk for the spread of TR4 to other properties and to the disease becoming endemic.
I argued that if we did not vigorously pursue a strategy to slow down the spread of TR4, what was the point of the Biosecurity Queensland surveillance and testing, other than to give our scientists time to mitigate the impact of TR4?
I was genuinely shocked when the Palaszczuk Government refused to contribute to the industry buy-out proposal, because that level of risk would endure for so long as the farm continued to operate, even under the protocols put in place by Biosecurity Queensland. Fortunately, Queensland LNP Senator Barry O'Sullivan provided strong support and the Federal LNP Government had partnered with the banana industry, through a voluntary levy, to achieve the landmark property buy-out.
- Hinchinbrook MP, Andrew Cripps