Post by NFA on Apr 27, 2024 8:09:53 GMT 8
Killing bees to please overseas farmers
Vikki Campion
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Prawns, when chemically euthanised, jump from the water. The ocean pops with dying crustaceans.
Bees, when chemically euthanised, flee for any unsealed exit.
Both prawns and bees have been subject to mass euthanasia in recent years because we imported infected prawns and bees to our island continent.
Those forced to kill them were the same who bred them, fed them and thought about their needs. When you work so hard to keep creatures happy, healthy and fat, it’s an anathema to be the one to pour petrol into the hive.
Yet the federal Government, which failed beekeepers, fruit and vegetable growers and prawn farmers, is billing them with a new biosecurity levy to pay for the risk their competitors bring.
We imported seafood with white spot and put it on the supermarket shelf, with a warning on the label: “Do not use as bait”, which, of course, someone did, releasing white spot into the ocean. After losing everything and rebuilding since 2016, prawn farmers, who are still paying back about $4 million to the government, will now be billed $101,049 for biosecurity.
The government abandoned the eradication effort only after some beekeepers killed their hives and livelihood to eliminate varroa mites.
The mite is expected to kill the majority of wild pollinators that our growers rely on – yet the government estimates honey producers will be expected to pay about $114,421 and all primary producers some $51 million.
At a Senate inquiry this week, bureaucrats seemed unable to explain how they would both charge it and spend it, while forcing Aussie farmers to pay for the risk their overseas competitors bring.
Bees, when chemically euthanised, flee for any unsealed exit.
Both prawns and bees have been subject to mass euthanasia in recent years because we imported infected prawns and bees to our island continent.
Those forced to kill them were the same who bred them, fed them and thought about their needs. When you work so hard to keep creatures happy, healthy and fat, it’s an anathema to be the one to pour petrol into the hive.
Yet the federal Government, which failed beekeepers, fruit and vegetable growers and prawn farmers, is billing them with a new biosecurity levy to pay for the risk their competitors bring.
We imported seafood with white spot and put it on the supermarket shelf, with a warning on the label: “Do not use as bait”, which, of course, someone did, releasing white spot into the ocean. After losing everything and rebuilding since 2016, prawn farmers, who are still paying back about $4 million to the government, will now be billed $101,049 for biosecurity.
The government abandoned the eradication effort only after some beekeepers killed their hives and livelihood to eliminate varroa mites.
The mite is expected to kill the majority of wild pollinators that our growers rely on – yet the government estimates honey producers will be expected to pay about $114,421 and all primary producers some $51 million.
At a Senate inquiry this week, bureaucrats seemed unable to explain how they would both charge it and spend it, while forcing Aussie farmers to pay for the risk their overseas competitors bring.