Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee [Part 2], , 1:26:56 to 1:37:14
The suspension of pomelo trade with Vietnam is discussed following the detection of pests in a high percentage of consignments. Officials explain the audit process and the reliance on systems-based approaches for international trade biosecurity.
Topics: Biosecurity, Trade policy, Procurement
Speakers: Dr Peter Finnin, Hon Matthew Canavan, Unknown Speaker, Justine Saunders
right pronunciation here? It's not something I'm all that familiar with, but um I believe we had established a systems based approach for the importation of pomeloss from Vietnam. Um but some pest and disease have been found on recent consignments. Can you tell me a bit more about that?
Certainly. Um so yes, so as you say, we established a um pathway for the importation of pomeloas from um Vietnam. sorry. Just bear with me so I can make sure I get the right dates. Ah, um, if I go slightly wrong, I'll I'll correct it. But um so um after we had completed a risk assessment, we worked through a um a conversation with our um Vietnamese counterparts to develop what we call the operational work plan, which turns the risk assessment into practical things that um the trading partner needs to do to meet our requirements. And so trade then commenced. the as the trade um began um we started to observe um pest and disease on the pathway that we didn't expect should be there. So as you said um one of the main mechanisms for managing particular pests that could be on the pathway was a systems approach um and a well-implemented system that's working um at the level that we would expect should mean that fruit that is arriving in Australia uh is in very good condition and there's no evidence of um really pestal disease of any type let alone um pest and disease with a specific vascular risk. Um so as we started to observe that obviously each consignment was managed on its merits um at the time. So um as required additional testing may have been done to determine what pests were and what risks they presented. Um but as we continued to see um consignments that were not uh giving us confidence the system was working as expected um we brought up the date on which we uh had some of our officials go across and do an incountry audit. So whenever we establish a new trade it's our general practice that within that first 12 months of trade we will get some of our um uh very experienced auditors across to our trading partner to make sure that the pathway has been established. um uh in a way that's consistent with what we had agreed with our trading partner. So, as I say, we began to be concerned that that may not have been occurring. So, we sent out auditors across as a result of that audit. Um their findings indicated, I guess, consistent with what we've been seeing at the border is that the system that um should be implemented was not being implemented in a way that was meeting our requirements and managing the risk to an appropriate level. Um so as a consequence of that following um some risk assessment work that we did um the secretary in her capacity as the director of bio security issued a suspended goods determination on the 15th of September 2026 to suspend that trade from Vietnam.
>> Okay. Um [clears throat] there's a report I've got here from the Vietnamese press uh which quotes a Vietnamese official saying that Australia reported 70% of the consignments had shown symptoms associated with pests. Is that
>> Yes. Approximately 70% of consignments had some evidence of pestal disease associated.
>> Yeah. Right. Apparently an audit in August found um uh cleared this process. Why weren't these issues picked up back then?
>> Uh so the audit that we undertook in August 2026 was the audit that
>> I did find those things. Misinterpret that. Okay. All right. Why weren't they picked up before then?
>> Um so the trade and that was the date I was trying to find. The trade has not been in place for very long. Um it commenced earlier on this year. >> April April 26. Um and as I say fairly soon into the commencement of that trade we started to see things that concerned us. Um so we didn't wait 12 months. We brought the audit in country audit up. Um and as soon as our officials returned um we worked through the process essentially which resulted in the suspension of that trade from the 15th of September.
>> So how many pomelos got here between April and the suspension of the trade?
Um, so as of the 30th of September 2026, we had 33 consignments of fresh pomelo with a total volume of 340 tons.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um, there's been no reported issues with those in Australia.
>> Um, so for those consignments where we identified an unacceptable risk of a pest or disease or biocurity concern, those consignments were dealt with appropriately. Um, under the biocurity [clears throat] act, we need to do uh take um reasonable measures depending on the level of risk. So in some cases where the risk was relatively low then that might have meant that parts of the consignment was destroyed to um deal with that particular risk. Uh in certainly in some of the cases um the entire consignments were rejected and then it was a decision of the importer whether or not they wanted that consignment destroyed or whether they chose to uh reexport to a separate
So with some of this 340 tons was that already I suppose had been distributed before the suspension or and otherwise consumed or
>> Yes, but but every consignment was inspected >> once trade commenced. Every consignment was inspected.
>> But are we confident there were no pests? How can you provide 100% guarantee of that or
>> I think you'd be hardressed to get me to say 100%. But what I can say is that we manage the risk to a very low level. Um we were confident when we released a consignment from bioscurity control that the fruit represented at least a very low level of biocurity risk. Um as I say um in some cases um there were partial destructions of consignments in some cases entire consignments were rejected and it was a based on biocurity offer assessment assessment of individual consignments at that point in time. However, from my perspective, looking at, you know, sitting back and looking at what was going on, I became concerned that overall the pathway was not performing to an acceptable level, which is why we uh did the work and asked the director of rescue to act.
>> So, um what what does Vietnam have to fix before the trade resumes?
>> Um so, um we have completed an an audit report which we've now provided back to Vietnam. Um the systems approach has um measures if you like in place right across uh the production chain. So from things that need to occur in the orchard through to things that need to occur at picking at the pack house and things that the Vietnamese um competent authority needs to do as far as their own inspection and order and assurance. Um essentially we had concerns across nearly all of those elements of it. So we have provided very clear um information back to the Vietnamese about what those concerns have been. Um that's with them now. Uh we will continue to work with them, but we are waiting for them to provide us with I guess their response to our findings and also what it is they would propose um that they believe can address those findings. Um and it's only if we um come to the view that they have appropriately addressed our concerns and that the measures that they have put in place will reduce the risk to an acceptable level that we would contemplate recommencing trade.
>> Is there a timeline we've given them and what when they need to fix these things?
Um, not specifically, Senator. I guess there is a timeline from from the point of view of the suspended goods determination. When the director of biocurity issued that, it was in place for an initial period of 6 months. Um, so but that's um just an arbitrary term if you like. Um so as we see um how the Vietnamese authorities going to respond um if they're not responding appropriately then we can extend that suspended goodation.
>> Okay. Um [clears throat] the audits we've had to do inspections and the like. Who pays for that?
>> Um so essentially the department pays
>> the taxpayer pays for these audits. There's no cost recovery of these costs
and >> not to the incountry audit that we have done in this case.
>> Okay. Um, all right. This systemsbased approach sounds to me like it's only as strong as every link in the chain. Uh, are there any lessons here for this approach, particularly going back to the issues of bananas and pineapples given this has failed very
>> Certainly, I think there are a range of lessons here. Um it's also something that is increasingly becoming something that uh we are relying on for our own exports but equally that many of our trading partners are asking us to consider for imports to Australia. Um and as a result the IPCC the plant protection convention who is the standard setting body um continue to do work on international standards in relation to systems approaches. Um the CSRO has been doing a lot of work in relation to systems approaches and how they work effectively. [clears throat] Um and so certainly for for us um we will be continuing to monitor and think very carefully about systems approaches and in particular from my perspective the key element is the assurance and verification. Uh how can we be sure that what our trading partner says the system is doing is actually doing and how do we get appropriate verification of that?