THE Palaszczuk government has been accused of hypocrisy after blasting the federal government in the wake of a controversial ABC TV Four Corners program claiming white spot infected prawns were being sold through retail outlets.
LNP opposition agriculture and fisheries spokesman Tony Perrett said the Palaszczuk government was being hypocritical because it had already cut Queensland’s biosecurity response to the devastating prawn disease.
“The Palaszczuk Labor Government has cut Queensland biosecurity staff and prematurely wound back the response into white spot disease in prawns,” Mr Perrett said.
“Unfortunately, what we saw on Four Corners confirmed our greatest fears – that biosecurity in Queensland is not up to scratch.”
“Lax quarantine measures and under-resourced import inspection agencies have the potential to ruin our $20 billion agriculture industry.”
- Mark Furner, Queensland Agriculture and Fisheries Minister
Queensland Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said blame lay with the federal government.
“It is clear that our borders are not safe from exotic pests and disease when the LNP are in control of them,” Mr Furner said.
“But what more would you expect from a federal government that cut 25 per cent of its biosecurity staff from the department.
“Lax quarantine measures and under-resourced import inspection agencies have the potential to ruin our $20 billion agriculture industry.”
Mr Perrett said it was “pretty rich” for the Palaszczuk government to point the finger and blame the Federal Government when it was cutting staff at Biosecurity Queensland.
“These staff cuts hurt even more when they occur during a government hiring spree of an extra 25,000 public servants since 2015 - none of which have been employed to help farmers.”
Mr Furner said he had written to Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud calling on him to do more to protect the prawn industry.
“Previously I wrote to him to asking to direct more resources to Biosecurity Australia and to guarantee that the funds raised by their tax on imported containers go toward protecting Queensland’s borders,” he said.
Both Mr Furner and Mr Perrett agreed that the Commonwealth Government should reconsider allowing the importation of green prawns in light of the Four Corners program.