The Nationals are pushing back against a proposal to clear pineapples from India and Indonesia for import, warning it risks inflicting exotic pests and unfair competition on Australian growers.
Launching a petition to “stop Labor’s foreign pineapples plan”, Nationals leader Matt Canavan said on Wednesday his party backed fair trade, but that “fair trade must be safe trade”.
“Imports should not be approved until the science has been independently tested, strict biosecurity conditions are clear and Australian growers are protected,” he said.
“That’s why The Nationals are launching a petition to back Australian farmers.”
In addition to a petition, Senator Canavan brought samples of “the best pineapples in the world” with him when he returned to parliament this week so Labor MPs “can taste” them.
His mission to “protect our pineapple industry” comes after a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry draft report determined “the importation of commercially produced decrowned pineapples to Australia from all production areas of India and Indonesia can be permitted, subject to a range of biosecurity requirements”.
Pineapple skins are bumpy, cracked and full of tight crevices where tiny insects can easily hide from sight.
Because of this, the draft report said looking over the outside of the pineapple was not enough to guarantee it was clean.
It identified 160 bugs, fungi and bacteria linked to pineapples in India and Indonesia but found only eight pests posed a risk to agriculture and native plants because the others either already existed in Australia or couldn’t survive.
To combat the risk, the report recommended treating the fruit before export, using fumigation or irradiation to kill any pests.
These are standards Australia uses to import pineapples from the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Taiwan and Thailand.