Question On Notice No. 2211 asked in the Legislative Council on 25 June 2019 by Hon Colin De Grussa
Question Directed to the: Minister for Regional Development; Agriculture and Food; Ports; Minister Assisting the Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Question
I refer to an ABC Kimberley News Article on 19 May 2019, which stated that Western Australia's $8 billion agriculture industry is at risk from travellers breaching quarantine regulations when entering Western Australia, and I ask:
(a) how many tonnes of contraband was seized or stopped at the Western Australia border in 2018 and is this an increase or decrease over the previous two years;
(b) how many staff are located at each border inspection point, and have staffing numbers increased or decreased over the previous two years; and
(c) how many sniffer dog checks were conducted at border inspection points in 2018 and how does this compare to the previous two years?
Answered on 20 August 2019
a) There were 50.8 tonnes of quarantine-risk material intercepted at interstate entry points during 2017-18. This was an increase from 2016-17, when 46.9 tonnes were intercepted, but a decrease from 2015-16, when 52 tonnes were intercepted.
(b) There are 10 quarantine inspectors at both the WA/NT and WA/SA Road Checkpoints and 4 quarantine inspectors at the domestic airport. There are also an additional 41 quarantine staff who inspect, certify and manage interstate imports and exports. The number of staff has not changed over the last 2 years.
(c) There were 6,663 interstate flights inspected by detector dogs in 2017-18. This was an increase from 2016-17 when 6,278 flights were inspected, and an increase from 2015-16 when 6,327 flights were inspected