By email
tanya.plibersek.mp@aph.gov.au
13 July 2022
Dear Minister Tanya Plibersek

IN THE MATTER OF THE PROPOSED MOVEMENT OF BEE HIVES FOR AGRIBUSINESS POLLINATION - URGENT

I act on the instructions of Mr Simon Mulvany who is the organiser of the Facebook and GoFundMe crowdfunding platforms entitled “Stop Varroa Mite Spreading in Australia” established on Saturday 9 July 2022.

My instructions are that the State Governments of Victoria and New South Wales are proposing to introduce a permit scheme whereby approximately 300,000 honey bee hives will travel to the Murray Darling Basin region for the purpose of pollinating various crops including almonds.

The honey bee hives that are proposed to mobilise may have been exposed to the Varroa Destructor mite which is highly contagious. The mites have been spread by migratory beekeepers. Areas where the mites are currently found are marked to be dead zones and to be treated with a chemical Fipronil also killing indigenous and wild bees (both of which are important pollinators already active in the environment).

Globally, Australia is responsible for producing Varroa and disease free bees for the rest of the world and remains the only region to have successfully contained mite incursions up to date.

My instructions are that if the mite reaches the almond crops in the Murray Darling Basin, there will undoubtedly be a super spreading event. This would mean a massive increase in Fiprinol treatments throughout Australia threatening not just bees but all insect species, the aquatic creatures in our rivers and streams and of course also feeding birds. The particular and specific risk to insects like our critically endangered Sun Moths and native bee species cannot be underestimated.

My client has organised crowdfunding based on his position that your government must enforce an Australia wide standstill on the movement of any hives for the balance of 2022. Minister, there are two avenues for your department to ensure that this national bee hive standstill is implemented. My client is concerned that without your intervention, the State governments will not enforce a bee hive standstill and will instead succumb to industry pressure for continuity of the pollination of crops.

The first avenue is that the movement of exposed and treated hives requires assessment and approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999. Assessing the environmental impact associated with proposals to transport Varroa Destructor mites within Australia is required under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to ensure that Australia complies with its international obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The second avenue is found within the Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed that was promulgated by the agricultural industry to ensure that funding was available in the event that the incursion of certain categories of pests, and Varroa is Category 3, require a prohibition on movement. Under the Deed, your government is only required to contribute approximately 25% of the costs that are known under the Deed as Owner Reimbursement Costs if a particular hive is destroyed. But not if the hive has its movement restricted. Thus I am instructed to request that you and your colleague the Minister for Agriculture collaborate on widening the criteria for reimbursement of the net income foregone for owners of bee hives that would otherwise travel to the Murray Darling Basin to meet pollination contracts.

GoFundMe

https://www.gofundme.com/f/stop-varroa-mite-spreading-in-australia

Thanks everyone who has contributed to the GoFundMe to try to stop a super spreading event of varroa at the Almonds. First we try a federal injunction than if that doesn’t work a state injunction . I am not going to give up despite the almond industry announcing nsw hives will be moving into Victoria from next week.

To have federal government assistance with this we have to show that it’s a national issue, hence a request for national standstill.

Stoping varroa is in all our interests if you are interested in contributing our battle against the billion dollar monoculture Almond industry you can contribute here

https://www.gofundme.com/f/stop-varroa-mite-spreading-in-australia