The South Australian tomato grower who sent unauthorised seedlings to Victoria says a lack of communication is to blame for the shipment.
Last week the Victorian government confirmed the brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), which can cut tomato plant growth by 70 per cent, had been found in Victoria for the first time after a plant movement from SA.
Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA) chief plant health manager Nick Secomb told SA Country Hour the virus was found after an “unauthorised movement of material” to Victoria. Victorian authorities have assured the industry the virus has been contained to one Goulburn Valley glasshouse.
The pilot program which allowed transport between the states has since been suspended and uncertainty remains about the viability of transporting seedlings across the border.
Peter Petsios, the SA farmer who brought the unauthorised plants across the border, said he only made the move because the SA government failed to respond to his calls prior to his scheduled departure.
“There was no testing supplied to us prior to delivery to suggest the plants were positive,” Mr Petsios said.
Claims SA authority slow to respond
Mr Petsios’s family-run tomato nursery SA Tomato was one of three SA businesses that tested positive for ToBRFV in August last year.
The company was forced to destroy all its plants and stop trading as part of quarantine measures.
Some states including Queensland and Western Australia closed its borders to all tomatoes from SA, causing consumer price changes.Mr Petsios said his company, which “propagates seedlings for most of Australia”, was given approval in November to grow and deliver an order to Victorian business Katunga Fresh, a company which grows seedlings into supermarket produce.
This trade was done under a “pilot protocol trial to support trade”, according to Victorian chief health plant officer Rosa Crnov, and was a nationally approved process with conditions including extensive testing by PIRSA.
“They gave us this national protocol, and the protocol was we get those plants out on the 16th of December … and they took four rounds of testing,” Mr Petsios said.
The seedlings were due to leave for Victoria on December 16 and PIRSA has confirmed it was aware of such plans. A PIRSA spokesperson confirmed the testing, but when a truck arrived to transport the seedlings for the 10-hour drive to northern Victoria, Mr Petsios said he called SA authorities to get the final plant health certificate.
“I rang [the PIRSA officer] about 11 o’clock, and I said, ‘The truck’s loaded, can you please give me the paperwork?’ and he never rang us back and he never ever sent the paperwork,” Mr Petsios said.
“They put me in a compromised position because I had to follow the protocol … it was 38 degrees and we couldn’t wait because they [the plants] would have been dead.”
A PIRSA spokesperson said they communicated with SA Tomato, but did not address Mr Petsios’s claims his call was not returned prior to transport.
