Southern Hemisphere Seed matters

[Maggi Young]

We have been asked to bring the following to the attention of Tasmanian Members:




"PROPOSED NEW SEED IMPORTATION REQUIREMENTS FOR TASMANIA

Dear valued members,

 It has been brought to our attention that the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water (DPIW) is proposing to introduce new seed importation regulations (IR) into this state. Currently it is not illegal to import seeds into Tasmania nor is there a fee charged at the federal or state level. This new IR proposal will require All importers of seed:
•   To submit to the assessment protocols which are currently confined to large-scale agricultural and horticultural businesses.
•   To have their seed imports assessed regardless of whether they have been already assessed and passed at the federal level.
•   To pay a fee for each item assessed.
DPIW says their new proposal will enhance biosecurity for Tasmania but there is no compelling argument for this claim. Currently all Australian states accept the federal seed importation IR as their biosecurity standard and they don’t have in place addition blanket seed assessments at the local level, as Tasmania is proposing to do. These are simply judged as too expensive and disruptive and don’t produce a discernable net gain in biosecurity.
By seeking to put in place additional import requirements DPIW will take Tasmania out of step with all other Australian jurisdictions and we will be the poorer for it. Some of the most concerning negative impacts are as follows:
•   Some specialist nurseries, like ours, will be put at competitive disadvantage to our mainland counterparts and may not be able to continue to trade.
•   The gardening public might not have the same choice of variety of vegetable and flower plants and seeds available to them as citizens in other states. Or they may have to pay more for them
•   Organizations like seed-savers co-operatives, specialist gardening groups, as well as individual members of international gardening clubs will find it harder to import seeds and be faced with additional costs.
•   Small, specialist mail-order nurseries will lose market share because in the face of these changes they are more vulnerable than large scale, mass production businesses.

We are not opposed to good biosecurity regulations but this proposal is ill conceived, heavy-handed and poorly co-ordinated. We urge you to play your small part in stopping them. We recommend you to email or write or phone the Head of the Working Group for this proposal, Cindy Hanson, Department of Primary Industries and Water to voice your disapproval and seek further information and also to ask to be invited to comment on the draft regulations.
Mt Pleasant Laboratories, PO Box 46, Kings Meadows TAS 7249    Ph 03 63365414  or  Email:   Cindy.Hanson@dpiw.tas.gov.au

We all have a right to have our say on this issue so please if you require any further background don’t hesitate to call Marcus Harvey on 03 62240770 or email on hillview400@hotmail.com.
                                                          Kind Regards,       
Marcus Harvey"

[Lesley Cox]

Oh gosh, as soon as I started to read this I thought "Marcus will be spitting mad" then saw who had sent it. It applies only to Tasmania and I truly hope the locals are able to have this set aside or toned down considerably but I suspect it will be the beginning of the end for all SH gardeners or at least those in Aust and NZ. One jurisdiction tends to eye up what the others are doing and follow suit.

Tasmania has a much higher biosecurity regime than the rest of Australia. One can't take plants from the mainland to the island for instance.

In my experience and certainly according to what has happened here, the "powers that be" who are concerned with biosecurity, don't give a damn for commercial nurseries or their ability to survive excessive regulation. Many specialist nurseries in NZ have had to close because they no longer have been able to import new material. The country's (arguably) best tree nursery, Peter Cave's, is no more for that very reason. Small and especially alpine nurseries have gone the same way. We have just one left, for the whole country!

[Lesley Cox]

Re-reading this, it seems that Tasmania is, in fact, going the same way as NZ in requiring species assessment and payment for same, regardless that the Federal assesment has already been done. It's too late to do anything about it here and biosecurity (ERMA) is utterly closed-minded to pleas for the application of common sense. I only hope that the fees to be charged don't come near ours which currently stand at $1500 per species.

[Rodger Whitlock]

As matters stand, the logic seems to be that only the importer benefits, which is arrant nonsense. The purpose isn't to ensure the importer doesn't have plant troubles; it's to ensure that society as a whole doesn't.

Take for example the Australian ban on Homeria, justified by the fact the corms are toxic to livestock and that the genus is one likely to naturalize (if it hasn't already). Who benefits from the ban? Not the individual, who, were there no ban, have a rather pretty flower in his/her garden, but everyone with any interest in livestock, including not just the rancher but those who process, distribute, sell, or eat meat.

The sad part is that the end result of overwrought bureaucratic regulation is smuggling, which lessens "biosecurity". Thus an attempt to improve things backfires and worsens them. It seems to me that there's the principle cui bono? isn't being observed. Who benefits from these regulatory regimens? The whole population, presumably. Therefore the cost of these should be paid out of general tax revenue.

[arillady]

So sad to read Marcus's letter - like Lesley said it is like hitting your head against a brick wall where some of these people in power are concerned and like Rodger says it is likely to encourage erring slightly from the full truth.
$1500 a species Lesley !!!!!!!!? What utter rot - reminds me of all the speed cameras which were put in place to lessen the road toll - ha! money in the coffers as the toll keeps rising - locally we are losing many of our young people to speed and inexperience and of course the trees that get in their way.
Back to the topic - we do have Homeria locally which has taken off - the Council spray it for us but it has not lessened its amazing ability to spread in the paddocks. It was here in small numbers when we arrived 30+ years ago but it has really spread. I sure hope that the salvation jane (echium) mite is released locally soon to lessen the lovely purple of the paddocks around here - but I guess I will lose the Echiums that I do grow.

[Paul T]

Unfortunately given that Tas is going to charge it's own fees to evaluate, even after the work that has been done by the mainland, it definitely appears to be a money raising venture rather than having any actual care for biosecurity.  There was a fair amount of work evaluating stuff for the "federal" system that we have, so I can't quite rationalise how Tas feels that that was pointless and that they're going to get different results.

I'd like to help, but I figure the problem with contacting the person is..... are they going to give a toss if it isn't a Tasmanian?  Not a rate payer (and therefore not a voter) could easily equate to lack of interest.  There certainly needs to be a big outcry in Tas itself, but will we be helping it we up here on the mainland contact them or just causing problems?

[Lesley Cox]

The silly thing with our assessment programme is that if the rate per species was realistic, say $20 per species, ERMA would get THOUSANDS of requests for assessment and they would soon find that Galanthus, Cyclamen, frits, crocuses, androsaces, saxifrages and countless other things would be perfectly harmless in our evironment, so we could import seed. We would get the plants we want and they would get get heaps of income. As it is, no-one applies for assessment because of the ludicrous cost. Moreover, if a plant IS assessed and then becomes permitted, it goes on the Bio Index and everyone can import it free (the seed) while the first poor guy has had to pay the $1500.

[Stephen Vella]

There goes the nursery industry, hort industry and the Botanic gardens will follow. Rare plants will become very rare and very expensive for Tassie,hope it doesnt come over to the mainland.

[fermi de Sousa]

There goes the nursery industry, hort industry and the Botanic gardens will follow. Rare plants will become very rare and very expensive for Tassie,hope it doesnt come over to the mainland.

Stephen,
this needs to be fought in Tassie first because it's the domino principle! The other states will follow suit if they think there's a buck in it and they can get away with it.
If you have any contacts in Tassie I suggest you get onto them and send them the link to Marcus' letter.
cheers
fermi

[Stephen Vella]

Fermi,

I could pass this information onto Hobart Botanic Gardens and see if they can do anything about it.

cheers