Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Banan Freckle has been discovered again in the NT - Paul Burke from NT Farmers tells us what needs to be done

Transcript

Banan Freckle has been discovered again in the NT - Paul Burke from NT Farmers tells us what needs to be done · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line right now is Paul Burke,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the CEO of NT Farmers. Good morning to you, Paul.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. How are you business?
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Not too bad? Mate? I know that you are now
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: at the moment working with producers and stakeholders to prevent
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the spreit op. Can you hear us all right there?
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Paul? Yes, I can. You just dropped out there for
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: a second.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: That's all right now. I know that you are working
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: pretty well furiously at the moment. After there was the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: positive detection of banana freckle found on a rural residential
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: property in Bachelor a little bit earlier this week, tell
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: us what's happened.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: So, yes, we had a very good member of the
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: public that is something that wasn't quite right with their
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: banana plant and took it into the Department of Primary
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Industries or did it's called now and had some tests
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: done and unfortunately it's come back as banana freckle, which
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: is a real kicking the guts for a lot of
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: people that went through this through twenty thirty three to
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: twenty eighteen. So it's a trying time for our banana
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: industry here in the Northern Territory.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: So Paul to those out there who don't know exactly
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: what banana freckle is and why this is such an issue.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Why is it?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: So it affects the leaves predominantly and the fruit and
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: it gets a blemish on the fruit. So whilst it's
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: the fruit's fine to eat and we encourage you around
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: to keep eating bananas, it does have a productivity issue
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: as well as it makes the fruit look not as
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: it should.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: And so why is that then a concern? I suppose
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: if it's still good to eat, why is it such
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: a concern and why is the most recent detection of
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: banana freckle in the Bachelor area a worry.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: So it means we can't take bananas across borders, so
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: across the interstate borders, so it means that whatever bananas
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: we produce here at the moment needs to stay in
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: the territory. So it has some implications around trade and
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: it certainly means that we couldn't export the bananas. So
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: for us, it's another challenging issue in that plant pest
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: space and it's something that we hoped we got rid
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: of in twenty nineteen. And all indications at the moment
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: is this looks like a new detection. So we were
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: clear of it in twenty nineteen, but it looks like
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: we're backfighting it again.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: What are the steps now following on from this detection
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: earlier in the week, What are the steps now to
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: make sure or to ascertain whether it's contained.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: So at the moment where we've got positive cases and
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: we're working with a couple others that have potentially got
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: some suspect plant on their property, so there's movement restrictions
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: on those properties. The department currently, through their Bisecurity team,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: are outdoing significant amount of surveillance in the area understand
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: how widespread it is. And we've sort up a high
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: level working group, a Banana Frequle Steering Committee group that's
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: got Banana Council and government officials and nursery and garden
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: and ourselves on it, and we'll make some decisions as
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: we get more information in both It's really early days
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: at this stage, so it's.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Still too early to tell how it's gotten back into
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the Northern territory at this point, that's right.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: We just don't have a handle on that yet, and
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: given it's only been two or three days, we probably
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: wouldn't expect to, but there'll be significantly more testing done.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: There'll be molecular testing done, so we'll get a better
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: picture and a clearer picture over the coming two to
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: three weeks.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Paul talk us through when banana freckle, when we last
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: had it in the Northern Territory, how big an impact
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: or how damaging was it for the industry.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: It literally wiped the industry out. So twenty thirteen we
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: had quite a strong industry here in the territory, but
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: it pretty well decimated the industry and it's never really recovered.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: We've got some large commercial growers still, but I guess
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: for those larger growers, they had to start from ground zero.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: So my heart goes out to them. And whilst we're
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: dealing with a plant pest at the moment, there is
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: a very strong human element in this as well, So
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: you know, it doesn't only affect the backyard grows. It
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: affects the commercial growers and as well as that, the
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: employees as well that would be thinking, well, you know
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: what am I going to do for a job now,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: So it has some broader implications.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Mate, how are they feeling at the moment? I would understand,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: you know, I would imagine that you've had a few discussions.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: How is everybody feeling at the moment in the industry?
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: A little bit shell shocked, to be honest, And you know,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of people were just starting to get on
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: the feet on their feet after the last incursion. It
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: took a long time to get back to trade. And
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: for those guys, it really is heart wrenching and they're
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: doing it really tough. The one thing that all the
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: people that are listening today can do is gone by
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: an extra kuilo bananas this week. Most of the bananas
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: that you're buying the main supermarkets here and around the
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: markets are all produced here in the territory. Mate.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I love my bananas. I have them every single morning.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: So I am you know, I am somebody who's thinking,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: g I feel for the industry at this point. They
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: must be feeling pretty nervous hoping that this is contained.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: And you know, at the end of the day, our
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: exports all around the country and around other parts of
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: the world are such a huge part of the Northern Territory.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: We rely so heavily on our farmers no matter what,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: you know, what's crop we're talking about. But I really
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: hope that you know that we've got this thing under control,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: or that we are able to keep it under control
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: so that it doesn't impact.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Them, And it's certainly really important from our imj OViSS
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Australia is very much the clean green image and we
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: fight really hard. We've got world's best practice in biosecurity,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: so we are very conscious that we need to protect
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: our image for all of those markets and all of
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: those other products. So you know, we've got to continue
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: to invest in biosecurity and you know the next outbreaks
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: only a moment away.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Well, it's always good to catch up with you, Paul.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: I wish it was under better circumstances. Keep us under
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: We'll keep us up to date and let us know
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: how things are tracking along. But yeah, we're certainly thinking
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: of you all and hoping that this is not going
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: to end up like it did those years ago.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie. And for any of the listeners out there
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: that have bananas, please keep an eye on them, give
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: them a little bit of extra love and care, and
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: if they don't look right, please report them to the
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Plant Health Plant Health helpline. Yeah, and I.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Have got that number here, so I'll read that out
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: for our listeners in a couple of moments, Paul Burke,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: the CEO of NT Farmers, thanks for your time this morning.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.