Quarantine and "free trade" — the plot thickens

Bob Briton

You have got to hand it to John Howard. His training in the law 
and decades of surviving in the snake pit called the Australian 
Parliament have made him the master of the carefully chosen word. 
Earlier this year the PM was under a lot of political pressure 
over the threat the Australia US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) 
posed to Australia's strict quarantine laws. The US's lead 
negotiator Bob Zoellick had made it clear that a "relaxation" of 
the quarantine laws was a prerequisite for the conclusion of the 
pro-corporate AUSFTA. The questions about this crucial issue were 
raining down on Howard.

"Australia's quarantine and food safety regimes, which ensure our 
health and our environment are protected, are not affected by the 
Agreement", the PM said with his chin thrusting forward. Since 
then, however, there has been a host of challenges to the 
effectiveness of Australia's quarantine regulations. In all of 
them, the agency of the Federal Government overseeing quarantine 
matters — Biosecurity Australia (BA) — has favoured "relaxing" 
current standards.

In February, BA recommended the scrapping of the current system 
of quarantine inspections at entry points to the country. This 
would be replaced by a system of "assurances" from the countries 
of origin that the produce being imported does not present any 
disease threat. A shakier system of "enforcement" could not be 
imagined.

That same month, a BA report recommended that bananas from the 
Philippines be allowed into the country despite the existence 
there of Moko, a disease that could devastate Australia's $400 
million banana industry. Apparently, "assurances" that the 
imported bananas came from disease-free plantations would have 
been sufficient for BA. Growers now live in fear that Moko and 
banana bract mosaic virus could one day find their way into their 
crops with devastating consequences.

The Australian Banana Growers' Council had engaged a senior 
scientist from Britain's Department of Environment, Food and 
Rural Affairs to examine the dangers of the imports. The Council 
says it has evidence that BA approached the professor's bosses in 
the UK to force him to drop his investigations.

Another BA risk analysis recommended the lifting of the ban on 
pig meat from 11 countries currently in place to prevent the 
entry of post-weaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome. The 
potential for damage to producers is so grave that industry body 
Australian Pork Ltd is mounting a Federal Court challenge to the 
proposed change.

Then came the most widely reported recommendation from 
Biosecurity Australia. A draft report recommended that a ban on 
apples from New Zealand should be lifted to allow for their 
import "under strict quarantine conditions". BA has either a 
thick hide or a devilish sense of humour to suggest this in light 
of what it had previously proposed with regard to our system of 
quarantine inspection.

The ban on NZ apples has stood since 1919 because of the 
potential for contamination of local crops with fire blight. The 
disease could permanently reduce production to 60 per cent of 
current levels and destroy the viability of fruit growing areas 
like the Goulburn Valley. It has already wiped out NZ's pear 
growing industry.

Fire blight is spread by bees, aphids, leafhoppers and other 
sucking insects and birds. It can also be passed on by 
contaminated farm implements. An outbreak is the cue for a 
military-style mobilisation. Last week's Vanguard carried a 
report from a consultant in fruit production in the US who has 
witnessed outbreaks firsthand:

"When fire blight struck, everybody was mobilised. An army of 
orchard workers moved systematically through every pear and apple 
block, cutting out affected branches — sometimes whole limbs — 
which were subsequently burned.

"Every affected tree was marked and re-examined several times 
during the next few days. In the meantime, the whole orchard was 
sprayed with the anti-biotic streptomycin. In bad cases the 
orchard was also dusted with copper causing severe russet of the 
fruit.

"I remember driving past a beurre bosc pear orchard in the state 
of Washington that was badly affected by fire blight. The trees 
were cut down a week later and the same orchard resembled a 
cemetery, with only the trunks left as tombstones. This hardly 
describes the anguish and frustration orchardists will feel when 
fire blight hits pear and apple orchards in Australia."

Biosecurity Australia argues that it merely applies a 
mathematical formula to assess risk. It accepts that some 
Philippine bananas carrying Moko will enter the country. Using 
this same "qualitative" yardstick, it is conceded that between 
0.35 and 5 per cent of the 200 million apples set to come from NZ 
could carry fire blight bacteria. This is acceptable to the 
Federal Government's panel of experts!

Controversy over BA's draft report has remained in the news since 
its release. A Senate Committee has been reviewing it and has 
heard some remarkable evidence. John Corboy of the apple and pear 
industry's fire blight task force has identified 46 errors in the 
figures contained in the report. The term "low" was used to 
describe risk when it should have read "moderate".

Biosecurity Australia chief Mary Harwood is standing by the 
report. Errors and all, the recommendation for a "relaxation" of 
our quarantine standards still stands. Meanwhile, the European 
Union is reported to be challenging Australia's quarantine system 
for being too restrictive. New Zealand is going to take the apple 
and pear issue to the World Trade Organisation.

In all these actions, it appears that the Federal Government will 
be on the opposite side to local growers. It has its own agenda. 
The fate of the sugar industry during the US Free Trade Agreement 
negotiations has already demonstrated that it is prepared to 
abandon large industries supporting large numbers of people to 
get in the good books in Washington.

Howard will have a battle on his hands. Rallies of 10,000 people 
have taken place in the Victorian town of Shepparton. More 
actions are planned. The support of the broader labour movement 
to stop this attack on the Australia's much envied quarantine 
safeguards and the livelihoods of people in fruit growing areas 
is absolutely vital.