Biosecurity tightened for bananas
The Department of Agriculture and Food has tightened biosecurity surrounding bananas crossing the border into WA in an effort to safeguard against the devastating Panama TR4 disease.
The soil-borne fungal disease was found on a property near Tully in north Queensland last month, and growers fear it could spread to wipe out Australia's $600 million banana industry.
DAFWA plant biosecurity director John van Schagen said while the disease had not spread to WA, crop inspectors would monitor Carnarvon and Kununurra wholesale and retail premises to ensure compliance with the border requirements.
He said importers or suppliers moving banana consignments, grown or packed within 50km of an outbreak of the disease, to Carnarvon or Kununurra had been informed they would now require "additional certification".
"They need to contact DAFWA and get the consignment certified as inspected and found free from soil and plant debris and marked with a 'passed quarantine' stamp," he said.
"The inspections will be of cartons to ensure they contain banana fruit from outside the 50km outbreak zone or that the cartons have been inspected and stamped with a passed quarantine stamp prior to arriving in Kununurra or Carnarvon."
OrdGuard Regional Biosecurity chairman Lachlan Dobson, who grows bananas in Kununurra, said while the growers were "encouraged by the department's stance on attempting to protect the banana industry in Kununurra", they were "concerned at the amount of time it has taken for effective biosecurity measures to be implemented".
"As of now I still don't believe that the information has been provided to quarantine personnel that will enable quarantine to be able to protect our industry," he said.
