Australia vegetable lobby group AUSVEG’s chief executive Richard Mulcahy says he will be banging on the door of the federal agriculture minister, as soon as he knows who it is, to talk potatoes, according to ABC’s rural news service.
The New Zealand government has asked if it can export fresh potatoes to Australia for processing.
But Mulcahy says he’s worried the potatoes may carry the tomato-potato psyllid, which caused more than $40 million worth of damage to New Zealand potato crops last year.
He says it has been more than 20 years since fresh potatoes were brought in from New Zealand, and he’ll be arguing against the request.
“This is not a case of some old-fashioned protectionism, this is a legitimate and genuine fear that we have about devastation that could be caused here.
“We think it is absolutely fool-hardy for the Federal Government to be talking about letting diseased potatoes in to Australia regardless of what quarantine measures they may put in place.”
The World Trade Organisation this month ordered Australia to remove barriers on New Zealand apples, ending a 90-year ban, dismissing claims that fire blight threatened its industry.
