EFFORTS to combat Queensland fruit fly in the region remain uncertain after the Victorian Government’s decision to terminate funding for managing the pest from June next year.
A spokesperson for Agriculture Victoria said the government had invested $14.28 million to provide community and regional grants under the Victorian Fruit Fly Strategy to empower industry and home gardeners to embed fruit fly management in their communities.
Fruit Fly Murray Valley has been responsible for this, housed within Mildura Council on behalf of horticultural industries and Swan Hill and Gannawarra councils.
“Regulations are no longer in place in the Greater Sunraysia region now that Queensland fruit fly is established,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said Agriculture Victoria was in the process of removing quarantine bins and signs.
“The Victorian Government will continue to support trade for the quality produce coming out of the region and maintain awareness of Queensland fruit fly management for all members of the community,” the spokesperson said.
The government said as the pest was now an established pest in Victoria, its management was now the responsibility of landowners and growers.
The program provided information to the community through 1077 workshops and events reaching 41,490 participants, supported by an extensive community education campaign to help people manage fruit fly on their own properties.
The government spokesperson said this funding was designed to instigate long-term change and support the transition of fruit fly management approaches.
“The Victorian Government continues to research new control methods, such as the use of parasitoid wasps and surveillance to detect incursions of other exotic fruit fly species to reduce the risk of establishment in Victoria,” the spokesperson said.
“Removal of the Greater Sunraysia Pest Free Area regulatory status was undertaken in consultation with industry stakeholders and the Commonwealth Government.”
Due to the establishment of Queensland fruit fly, the pest free area status of the Greater Sunraysia has been suspended for international trade since 2014.
The pest free area was no longer an appropriate regulatory tool to support trade from the area and added additional regulatory burden. It was therefore lapsed in July 2024.
Agriculture Victoria said it aware of community concerns about the quarantine bins on the Murray Valley Highway and was responding.
Travellers were, however, no longer required to dispose of fruit before entering the area.
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said he was concerned at the ongoing breakdown of the state’s defences against a rampant fruit fly population.
Mr Walsh said at a time when we should be ramping up the fight against this scourge of the horticulture industry, the system in Victoria was failing.
He said he was “appalled” at the number of frontline controls points he had recently driven past which were “a complete mess”.
“I stopped at the control point on the Murray Valley Highway near Kerang the other day and it looked like someone’s dumped rubbish, not a vital Agriculture Victoria frontline defence,” Mr Walsh said.
“The sign was almost unreadable, two of the three bins were tipped over and the only one still standing no longer had a flap at the top – it was a disgrace.
“On one hand you have the government’s army of spin doctors pumping out announcements and releases about everyone sticking to the rules to save the state’s $3 billion horticulture industry and on the other you have a department without the funding or resources to maintain even the most basic precautions.
“Victoria’s agricultural producers are feeding this state, and much of the country, and they deserve some return on the massive taxes and surcharges and levies they are slugged with to help them keep doing that job.”
Mr Walsh said five months ago a minor fruit fly outbreak in the Virginia food bowl north of Adelaide had a crippling effect on producers there and an almost immediate knock effect in prices and supplies across the country.
He said in 2023 the table grape industry in the Sunraysia was pummelled by fruit fly.
“After first stopping at the Kerang site I have driven past it three times since then and the only change I saw on my most recent trip was the third standing bin had also been knocked over,” Mr Walsh said.
Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell called on Agriculture Minister Ros Spence to renew funding and to establish a working group to develop a new Victorian Fruit Fly Strategy, with the current one about to expire.
“Both the four-year strategy and its associated funding expire in the middle of next year and there is no certainty about whether they will be renewed,” she said.
“Victoria must start planning now for a new fruit fly strategy to take over from the old one, and the government must commit to funding the coordination and education activities that will be an important part of an effective strategy.”
