Ideas@TheCentre
Going bananas over apples
New Zealanders have taken a keen interest in the Australian election, particularly in one character it has thrown up: Bob Katter, for his cowboy hat and colourful turn of phrase and an obsession with bananas.
Katter, MP for Kennedy, North Queensland, is well known for his opposition to imported bananas because they undercut local growers on price and drive them out of business. Now most people laugh at Katter with his crazy views on bananas, but in Australia it is still respectable for mainstream politicians to keep out New Zealand apples on spurious ‘bio-security’ grounds.
Australian apple growers say New Zealand apples carry fire blight, and importing apples poses a risk to the Australian industry. New Zealand disputes this, saying there is no scientific evidence that mature apples carry the disease.
New Zealand again took Australia to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over this old-fashioned protectionism and won. The WTO upheld New Zealand’s complaint that there is no scientific basis to the Australian claim. But the Minster for Agriculture, Tony Burke, has confirmed that Australia will be fighting this ruling, continuing a struggle that has been going for more than 80 years.
Not only that but this sort of apple nationalism has cross-party support. Apples were banned from Australia in 1920s on the grounds that they might spread fire blight. In 2006, the Australian government lifted the ban, but put in place spurious conditions that made the import of apples uneconomical. During this year’s, election both Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott demurred on the question of blocking the apples.
They both know there is no reasonable argument for keeping apples out except to protect an industry that is scared of competing with foreign growers of delicious apples such as New Zealanders.
So feel free to scoff at Bob Katter, but at least he is honest about his 'economic nationalism.'
And for all New Zealand growers out there – regardless of the election result, don’t bet on getting your apples into Australia any time soon.
Luke Malpass is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies' New Zealand Policy unit.
