Australia currently permits the importation of passionfruit from New Zealand for human consumption, provided Australian biosecurity import conditions are met.

This final report determines that the importation of commercially produced passionfruit to Australia from all commercial production areas of Vietnam can be permitted, subject to a range of biosecurity requirements.

This final report contains details of plant pests that are of biosecurity concern to Australia and are potentially associated with the importation of fresh passionfruit from Vietnam. 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, recommended risk management measures to reduce the biosecurity risk to an acceptable level, that is, to achieve the appropriate level of protection (ALOP) for Australia.

Twelve 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:

- false spider mites: Brevipalpus phoenicis species complex

- fruit flies: Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis), melon fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae) and pumpkin fruit fly (Zeugodacus tau)

- mealybug: Pacific mealybug (Planococcus minor) 

- scale insects: dictyospermum scale (Chrysomphalus dictyospermi), mulberry scale (Pseudaulacaspis pentagona) and West Indian red scale (Selenaspidus articulatus)

- spider mite: Tetranychus piercei

- thrips: melon thrips (Thrips palmi), cotton thrips (Frankliniella schultzei species complex) and chilli thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis).

Of these 12 pests:

- eleven are quarantine pests, of which 3 are also regulated articles, including

     -melon thrips and cotton thrips, which were also identified as regulated articles as they are capable of harbouring and spreading emerging orthotospoviruses that are quarantine pests for Australia

     -false spider mites, which were also identified as regulated articles as they are capable of vectoring viruses that are quarantine pests for Australia. However, there are no reports of the quarantine viruses vectored by false spider mites being present in Vietnam. Therefore, the regulated article aspect of false spider mites is not applicable to the passionfruit from Vietnam pathway.

- one is a non-quarantine pest (chilli thrips) but is identified as a regulated article as it is capable of harbouring and spreading quarantine orthotospoviruses.

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 recommended risk management measures take account of regional differences in pest distribution within Australia. Four pests requiring risk management measures, Planococcus minor, Chrysomphalus dictyospermi, Pseudaulacaspis pentagona and Thrips palmi, have been identified as regional quarantine pests for Western Australia, and Thrips palmi has also been identified as a regional quarantine pest for South Australia. These pests are considered regional quarantine pests as interstate quarantine regulations and enforcement are in place to prevent the introduction and distribution of these pests into the respective jurisdictions.

In this final report the department recommends a range of risk management measures, combined with operational systems, to reduce the risks posed by the 12 identified pests to achieve the ALOP for Australia.