SYDNEY - New Zealand apple and pear growers will have to wait at least a few more weeks before knowing if they can export their products across the Tasman for the first time in 75 years.
A draft risk assessment by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (Aqis), originally due for release
in March but postponed until May and then last month, is still not ready.
An Aqis spokesman could not say when the report would be available.
"We are still waiting for some feedback from an international scientific panel," he said.
Australian growers oppose New Zealand apples and pears being allowed in, saying it would be catastrophic for their industry if the fireblight bacteria in New Zealand spread to local orchards.
Material in the Aqis report is in the process of being vetted by 18 fireblight experts, three from Australia and the rest from overseas.
After a visit to Canberra this year, New Zealand Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton expressed cautious optimism that an end to the ban was in sight.
Jon Durham, chief executive of the Australian Apple & Pear Growers' Association, said he was aware the draft assessment was still some weeks from completion.
In May, Mr Durham said New Zealand imports were "more possible" than ever before.
He believed Aqis would come out with a proposal that delivered some level of access to New Zealand fruit.
"But we cannot even begin to speculate about how stringent the protocols might be."
Mr Durham said Australian growers were not prepared to accept imports from any country where fireblight was known unless it could be clearly demonstrated that the level of risk was "infinitesimally small."
- NZPA
