By PHILIPPA STEVENSON agricultural editor
After almost a century, Australian officials are suggesting that their country should allow New Zealand apple imports. But meeting the proposed conditions will be like hitting a boundary off an underarm bowler.
Biosecurity Australia yesterday released a draft analysis of the risk of New Zealand imports spreading
the disease fireblight. The move marks the latest step in a dispute that has seen trade suspended since 1919.
The market could be worth around $160 million a year to New Zealand growers, but their Australian counterparts vehemently oppose any relaxation of the ban.
It is even thought that the long-finished report was held back for fear of a backlash from Australian orchardists during the Sydney Olympic Games.
Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said the suggested conditions looked unjustifiably restrictive.
If the conditions were not scientifically based New Zealand would take "appropriate action," he said.
The chief executive of apple exporter Enzafruit, David Geor, said the decision was "illogical and highly disappointing."
The proposed restrictions would effectively maintain the present trade barrier for three more years, he said.
New Zealand has previously threatened to take Australia to the World Trade Organisation over the issue.
It has repeatedly said there is no risk of mature apples harbouring the disease, an argument accepted in other countries, including Japan, which allows New Zealand apple imports despite being free of fireblight itself.
That argument has even been acknowledged by Biosecurity Australia. Its report says research has shown that there is no evidence that apples grown in healthy orchards are infected with the bacterial disease.
The suggested conditions for New Zealand exporters include every apple tree being surveyed three times a season at key growth stages; that apples be restricted to orchard blocks with no evidence of fireblight for at least two seasons; that blocks be isolated from other apples by detection zones, and that apples be packed in sanitised conditions and then dipped in chlorine.
The draft is open for public comment for 60 days.
New Zealand has come to be regarded as the world's best manager of the disease.
Once fireblight is established, no chemical treatments can stop it. The only option is to cut off the infected part of the tree. When the disease affects apple blossoms, the flowers die, leading to a decrease in fruit yield. Later in the season it also attacks branches and leaves.
To counter the disease, New Zealand orchardists simply cut off infected parts of trees or spray to prevent infection.
