Industry body Pipfruit New Zealand has welcomed its country’s submission to the World Trade Organisation to resolve the ongoing dispute for access for apples to the Australian market.
Chief executive Peter Beaven said: “If Australia truly supports the principles of free trade, they need to learn to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
“This has become the longest-running dispute between our two countries. From the day of New Zealand’s most recent application for apple access in 1999, the science has been clear. Fireblight does not carry any risk of spread on mature apples. Only political interference in the scientific process has caused the problem between our two countries.”
“New Zealand takes no pleasure from commencing legal action against its neighbour and closest trading partner to an international court. However, Australia only has itself to blame for allowing this situation to develop. The real losers are the Australian consumers. They have been denied choice, and paid the second-highest apple prices in the world for eight years for second-rate produce, while the politicians interfered in due scientific process.”
The first section of the NZ submission outlines the history of the New Zealand application, which started in the mid-1980s. “Anyone who reads it will recognise it as a very sad indictment of Australian biosecurity systems and their potential for influence by industry interests,” said Beaven. “What makes the situation worse is that Australia trumpets free trade in many international forums only to use fraudulent science and delaying tactics to protect industry inefficiencies at home.”
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