[For stakeholders comments up to 2027-01-25]

The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (the department) has prepared this draft report to assess the proposal by the People’s Republic of China (China) for market access to Australia for fresh kiwifruit for human consumption.

Australia currently permits the importation of fresh kiwifruit from France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand and the USA for human consumption, provided Australian biosecurity import conditions are met.

This draft report determines that the importation of commercially produced fresh kiwifruit to Australia from all commercial production areas of China can be permitted, subject to a range of biosecurity requirements.

This draft report contains details of plant pests that are of biosecurity concern to Australia and are potentially associated with the importation of fresh kiwifruit from China. The term ‘pests’ includes both arthropod pests and pathogens. This report also contains risk assessments for the identified quarantine pests and regulated articles, and, where required, proposed risk management measures to reduce the biosecurity risk to an acceptable level, that is, to achieve the appropriate level of protection (ALOP) for Australia.

Fourteen pests have been identified in this risk analysis as requiring risk management measures to reduce the biosecurity risk to an acceptable level. These pests are:

- fruit fly: Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis)

- mealybugs: Pacific mealybug (Planococcus minor), citrophilus mealybug (Pseudococcus calceolariae) and American grape mealybug (Pseudococcus maritimus) 

- moths: summer fruit tortrix (Adoxophyes orana) and European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana)

- scales: black parlatoria scale (Parlatoria pergandii), European fruit lecanium (Parthenolecanium corni) and mulberry scale (Pseudaulacaspis pentagona)

- spider mites: Hawthorn spider mite (Amphitetranychus viennensis) and spider mite (Eotetranychus kankitus)

- thrips: European flower thrips (Frankliniella intonsa), Western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) and chilli thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis).

Of these 14 pests:

- 12 are quarantine pests, including European flower thrips, which was also identified as a regulated article as it is capable of harbouring and spreading orthotospoviruses that are quarantine pests for Australia

- 2 are non-quarantine pests (Western flower thrips and chilli thrips) but are identified as regulated articles as they are capable of harbouring and spreading orthotospoviruses that are quarantine pests for Australia. The URE for quarantine orthotospoviruses transmitted by thrips was assessed in the thrips Group PRA (DAWR 2017b) as not achieving the ALOP for Australia, and thus specific risk management measures are required for these regulated articles on this pathway.

The identified pests are the same, or of the same pest groups, as those associated with other horticultural commodities that have been analysed previously by the department.

The proposed risk management measures take account of regional differences in pest distribution within Australia. Five pests requiring risk management measures, Planococcus minor, Pseudococcus calceolariae, Parlatoria pergandii, Parthenolecanium corni and Pseudaulacaspis pentagona, have been identified as regional quarantine pests for Western Australia because interstate quarantine regulations and enforcement are in place for these species.

In this draft report the department proposes a range of risk management measures, combined with operational systems, to reduce the risks posed by the 14 identified species to achieve the ALOP for Australia. The proposed measures are:

-  for Oriental fruit fly

   -pest free areas, pest free places of production or pest free production sites, or

   -fruit treatment considered to be effective against Oriental fruit fly such as cold treatment or irradiation 

-for European grapevine moth

   -pest free areas, pest free places of production or pest free production sites, or

   -pre-export visual inspection and, if detected, remedial action

-for summer fruit tortrix moth, mealybugs, scale insects, spider mites and thrips

   -pre-export visual inspection and, if detected, remedial action.

This draft report has been published on the department’s website to allow interested parties to provide comments and submissions within the consultation period.