Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / DITT Principal Plant Biosecurity Officer Claire Morton outlines plans to eradicate banana freckle from the Northern Territory

Transcript

DITT Principal Plant Biosecurity Officer Claire Morton outlines plans to eradicate banana freckle from the Northern Territory · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As we understand it, work can now begin on eradicating
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: banana freckle in the Northern Territory with a response plan approved.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Now the disease has been found at forty two properties,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: mostly in the Bachelor and Rum Jungle region since May.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Now Claire Morton, who is indeed the principal plant biosecurity officer,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: joins me on the line right now to explain the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: eradication effort. Good morning to you, Claire.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. Are you yeah really well?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you for your time this morning. Firstly, Claire, what
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: is banana freckle for anyone out there who might not
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: actually know.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: So, banana freckles a fungal disease that affects banana plants.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: It's symptoms. You see black or brown spots on the
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: leaves or on the fruit and it feels like sandpaper
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: to touch.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: And so, Claire, how widespread is it in the Northern Territory.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: So, as you said, most of the infection as focused
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: in that Rum Jungle Bachelor area. We have picked up
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: a couple of properties in middle Point in Marrakai in
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Fly Creek and a couple on the Tiwii Islands.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: And so are we talking sort of smaller farms. Are
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: we talking individual growers? What kind of properties are we
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: talking about?
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: So the majority of premises that are affected are residential properties.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: They range from small properties to large rural plots. We
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: only have, fortunately, only one commercial grower who was affected.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: It must be tough on those that are commercial growers,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I mean tough on everybody, but particularly those who obviously
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: make a living from bananas.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and we're doing everything we can to support them.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: That's why we have sought approval from the national committees
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: to go ahead with eradication to support not only the
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: growers that are affected, but all the other growers in
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the Antea and on Australia.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: So Claire talk us through this plan and exactly what
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: it involves.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: So the strategy that we have had a proof at
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: this time is to remove plants on infected properties. So
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: those forty two properties that you're referred to, we will
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: be going into those premises very shortly to remove all
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: the banana. Banana plants. Properties in the surrounding area will
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: continue to do surveillance to make sure that those plants
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: remain healthy.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: And what sort of ongoing monitoring will there be and
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: how do you you know, I guess eradicating it is,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: you know, is what needs to happen, But how do
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: you continue to monitor us?
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: So we've got a team of surveillance officers who will
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: be going out into all of those areas and that
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: will continue for some time to make sure that there
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: is no further sign of the disease. We also really
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: appreciate the support of the community to check their plants
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: and let us know not only if they see symptoms
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: of this there's suspect signs on many of their banana plants,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: but also they've got healthy plants. That really helps us
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: to prove that we have eradicated the disease.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, so we'll only be those properties that are affected
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: at this point. We're not sort of we're not eradicating
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: or we're not destroying all banana plants around the territory.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: That's right. That's the approach that we've gone through this time.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: We're hoping to minimize the impact on the community. Obviously
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: we appreciate their support and getting into to inspect those
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: healthy plants, but it means that we don't then have
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: to remove all the plants.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Claire, as I understand, it was first detected here in May.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Why has it taken so long to come up with
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: a plan to remove it?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: So it takes a little bit of time, I guess,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: to go through the process of developing our strategy. We
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: unfortunately have had a couple of these additional detections in
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: those other areas and so we've had to revise our
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: approach a couple of times and seek reapproval. But we're
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: really pleased that those national committees continue to support the
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: eradication program.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: And Claire, what's been the reaction you know to those
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: people that that's crop or that you know their plants
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: do indeed have been on a freckle. What's been their
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: reaction as they've found out the Northern Territory government's plan.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Look, we've had a lot of support and particularly in
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: that rom Jungle Bachelor region. I think they're very understanding.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Obviously a lot of them have been through this previously,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: but they understand the importance of biosecurity and we need
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: to protect the noign industry and the territory.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: And do we have any idea at this point in
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: time if there's going to be compensation provided, you know,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: if any to the commercial farms to that commercial farm
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: that's been impacted.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so through the National Emergency Plant pass response. See,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: there is an own a reimbursement cost process and we
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: will support the growers through an application to get claims
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: under that and that will be approved through those national committee.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: So absolutely we are pursuing that process.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Well, Claire Morton, the Principal Plant Biosecurity Officer, we really
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much for
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: having a quick chat with us.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you,