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Speaker 1: I've taken the opportunity today to come out to two

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Speaker 1: wells to Perfection Fresh to have a look around. Of course,

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Speaker 1: you'll know the tomato crisis. This virus detected in a

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Speaker 1: couple of plants out at Perfection Fresh has closed them down,

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Speaker 1: hundreds of people without work. I'm with the CEO, Michael Simonetta,

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Speaker 1: who has shown me around a pretty big plant, A

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Speaker 1: big operation you've got here, Michael, How big is this place?

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Speaker 2: It's forty three hectares of production. So at the time

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Speaker 2: we received the order, we had one point three million

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Speaker 2: tomato plants in the facility and we're now in the

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Speaker 2: process of removing all of them. We've already removed most

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Speaker 2: of them.

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Speaker 1: I've seen where the plants have been coming out. I

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Speaker 1: find that particularly sad. You must be. It must be distressing.

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Speaker 1: It's not the word for it. It's absolutely distressing. It's

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Speaker 1: heartbreaking for the team here. It's tens of millions of

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Speaker 1: dollars that we're losing here because we have been shut

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Speaker 1: out of production for what we believe.

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Speaker 3: To be no real good reason.

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Speaker 1: You're coming into the busiest period as well, twelve hundred

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Speaker 1: staff over summer. How many people are here now, how

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Speaker 1: many of you put off.

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Speaker 2: We've already put off approximately three hundred. There's still about

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Speaker 2: two hundred and twenty one hundred and thirty here, and

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Speaker 2: they are either picking cucumbers or removing the plants out

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Speaker 2: of the glasshouses that we need to remove. So there's

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Speaker 2: still a number of glasshouses to remove, and it takes

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Speaker 2: a week or two to remove a hectare of plants

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Speaker 2: and about forty.

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Speaker 3: To fifty people.

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Speaker 2: But once all the tomatoes are removed, there will be

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Speaker 2: more people let go.

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Speaker 1: And I've tried some of them off the plant. They're good, healthy,

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Speaker 1: delicious tomatoes.

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Speaker 2: I've eaten at least three kilos today, Matthew, and I'm

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Speaker 2: still here, still healthy. I don't I feel healthy. And

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Speaker 2: there's nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with the.

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Speaker 1: Thru They look fine, they're red, they're beautiful, they're juicy. Unbelievable.

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Speaker 1: You said no good reason a few minutes ago. Talk

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Speaker 1: us through that. Why is that happening?

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Speaker 2: Well, this virus has appeared in the tomato world, the

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Speaker 2: first time in twenty fourteen in Jordan, and quickly over

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Speaker 2: ensuing years to North America, Europe, the UK, all over

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Speaker 2: the tomato producing world. Let's say so it was only

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Speaker 2: it was always a matter of when, not if, it

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Speaker 2: was going to reach Australia. So the virus has been

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Speaker 2: proven to be managed well managed by good growers. We

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Speaker 2: were managing it quite effectively before we were shut down.

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Speaker 2: We didn't see the seventy five percent year purported yield

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Speaker 2: losses that you would have heard by various members of government.

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Speaker 2: We didn't see the deformed fruit that you've seen in.

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Speaker 3: Photographs to shock people.

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Speaker 2: We haven't seen any of that, and you haven't seen

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Speaker 2: any of that here today. So we were managing the

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Speaker 2: virus as growers are doing everywhere else in the world.

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Speaker 2: So we reported having the virus. Willingly reported having the

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Speaker 2: virus because it's the right thing to do, and we

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Speaker 2: conformed to rules and regulations. But I expected that the

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Speaker 2: authorities here would let us manage it like other parts

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Speaker 2: of the world are doing, like good growers manage viruses

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Speaker 2: every day of their life.

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Speaker 1: You were talking to me about what you did to

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Speaker 1: manage it, so you cleared out a few rows for

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Speaker 1: people listening. It's unbelievable. You go into a glasshouse and

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Speaker 1: there'd be thirty rows of over one hundred meters per

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Speaker 1: row on either side of a walkway, so within a glasshouse,

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Speaker 1: sixty rows and that is literally thousands of plants. So

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Speaker 1: you found the virus in one and removed a couple

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Speaker 1: of rows either side.

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Speaker 2: We found the suspect plants in the suspect plant in

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Speaker 2: mid July, so we took a sample of that centered

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Speaker 2: overseas to test what virus it was, and we got

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Speaker 2: the result back on the first of August, late on

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Speaker 2: the first of August Australian time, that had tested positive.

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Speaker 2: But in the meantime before we actually got the result,

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Speaker 2: we removed plants all around that suspect plant. So we

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Speaker 2: removed hundreds of plants around that suspect plant, just as

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Speaker 2: a precaution, and we were managing it. The fruit was

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Speaker 2: the remaining plants were healthy, the fruit was fine, and

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Speaker 2: we were just around our budget had yield in that glasshouse,

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Speaker 2: even though we'd removed probably about twelve hundred plants.

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Speaker 1: And that must be incredibly frustrating that you've contained it,

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Speaker 1: you believe you've contained it, You've done everything you think

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Speaker 1: is reasonably necessary to do, and now the whole operation

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Speaker 1: is shut down, and it's been that way for weeks.

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Speaker 2: It's been that way now approaching five weeks when we've

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Speaker 2: been totally shut down for nearly five weeks. But you know,

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Speaker 2: as we tried to explain to the authorities, not just

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Speaker 2: in South Australia but in all states, we're forty three hectares.

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Speaker 3: We have.

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Speaker 2: Amongst those forty three hectares, there's twenty eight compartments, so

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Speaker 2: they can be segregated, twenty eight three separate, they're all separate,

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Speaker 2: So we only have three of those twenty eight. We

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Speaker 2: had three of those twenty eight as what PURSA described

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Speaker 2: as infected premises, three of twenty eight. But now we're

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Speaker 2: shut down across the whole site and that's just devastating,

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Speaker 2: just devastating, both personally and financially.

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Speaker 1: You must not be happy with PERSA to say the least.

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Speaker 1: And we've been chatting off their about that. What are

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Speaker 1: your thoughts with how they're managing this.

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Speaker 3: Look, it's just an overreach.

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Speaker 2: It's over zealous reaction to an issue that we identify.

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Speaker 3: We know we had the issue.

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Speaker 2: But we're prepared, we were prepared for it. It's an

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Speaker 2: absolute overreaction. It reminds me of the COVID responses, you know,

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Speaker 2: and we heard all over the media yesterday the report

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Speaker 2: post COVID that it was just an over zealous response

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Speaker 2: from government. This is exactly the same thing, and in

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Speaker 2: twelve or eighteen months we'll be reading exactly the same

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Speaker 2: sort of story about the brown ruegros virus. Just like

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Speaker 2: other countries in the world, they live with it and

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Speaker 2: they get on with their life. I just hope that

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Speaker 2: we can see this out financially well.

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Speaker 1: Is that a risk? Is that a problem potential?

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Speaker 2: The longer this goes, the bigger the risk becomes, Matthew.

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Speaker 2: As hard as it is to say that, the longer

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Speaker 2: it goes, the bigger the risk. And we still don't

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Speaker 2: know what tomorrow holds for us, even though we provided

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Speaker 2: a disinfestation and decontamination protocol to the government about four

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Speaker 2: or five weeks ago now, which we took from world's

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Speaker 2: best practice from glasshouse growers in other countries in the

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Speaker 2: Northern Hemisphere that have been doing this now for four

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Speaker 2: or five years. We took exactly that. We modified it

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Speaker 2: a little bit, we submitted it to suit. We modified

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Speaker 2: it just a touch, we submitted it and we're still

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Speaker 2: waiting for that to be approved so that we can

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Speaker 2: get back into business. But as each day goes by,

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Speaker 2: it's just more and more losses financially. And the reality

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Speaker 2: is is that if we were to press go today,

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Speaker 2: it'll take twelve to eighteen months for us to be

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Speaker 2: back in full production.

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Speaker 1: Can you last that long?

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Speaker 2: We will, hopefully, but you know, nothing's guaranteed. Its just

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Speaker 2: I mean, if we were able to get started immediately, yes,

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Speaker 2: but if this drags on another three to six months,

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Speaker 2: as has been reported in the media by various officers

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Speaker 2: at PERSA that it could take two or three more months,

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Speaker 2: then I really don't know.

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Speaker 3: Matthew.

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Speaker 1: You've spoken to the Premierre about this some time ago.

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Speaker 1: What's been the response was he? Did he seem to

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Speaker 1: be on your side? Is he on your side?

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Speaker 3: Yes?

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Speaker 2: It was a good conversation I must say with the premiere,

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Speaker 2: which is now It.

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Speaker 3: Was a day before, the day before he.

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Speaker 2: Met Katy Perry, But yeah, the Premier was supportive and

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Speaker 2: he asked me what he could do, and I said,

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Speaker 2: you know, I don't want to look backwards.

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Speaker 3: I want to look forward.

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Speaker 2: We just need an approved protocol so that we can

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Speaker 2: get back in the business. And he said that he

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Speaker 2: would do everything he can to make that happen.

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Speaker 1: That's a month ago now approximately, and you haven't heard anything.

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Speaker 2: Well, we haven't heard anything from the authorities.

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Speaker 1: No, what's PURSA saying about the timeline? Are they giving

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Speaker 1: you any sign when this will be over?

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Speaker 2: No clear sign. And like I said, a purser officer

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Speaker 2: said in a media report just two days ago that

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Speaker 2: it could be months. Yet why if I knew the

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Speaker 2: answer to that, Matthew, we probably wouldn't be talking.

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Speaker 3: I don't know. There is no good answer for that.

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Speaker 1: That's unreal. So the virus you were telling me earlier,

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Speaker 1: it can't be spread, which it's not known to be

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Speaker 1: spread from fruit to fruit, and you were selling while

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Speaker 1: you'd quarantine your own plants while PERSA had started their investigation,

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Speaker 1: you were still selling. Doesn't spread anywhere.

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Speaker 2: We were selling fruit for at least two or three

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Speaker 2: weeks before PERSA came with it with the Australian test

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Speaker 2: result that we tested positive because they didn't acknowledge the.

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Speaker 3: Overseas based result.

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Speaker 2: So we kept selling for those two or three weeks

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Speaker 2: to every state and if the fruit spread the virus,

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Speaker 2: it would be rampant across the country. By now, the

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Speaker 2: chance of fruit spreading the virus is next to zero

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Speaker 2: is close to zero as you can possibly get. And

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Speaker 2: there is no ill health to anybody by consuming that fruit.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I'm testament to that. I've been eating the

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Speaker 2: fruit all day right and for the last few weeks. Yes,

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Speaker 2: so the fruit's not going to harm anybody, and all

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Speaker 2: we want to do is sell our fruit. We're happy

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Speaker 2: to follow the protocols that are set by per Se

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Speaker 2: in terms of isolation of one glass house or two glasshouses,

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Speaker 2: which we tried to express to them and convince them

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Speaker 2: that we were able to segregate these houses, but they

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Speaker 2: just ignored us and shut down the whole place.

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Speaker 1: You're telling me about Britain, where this has been found

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Speaker 1: a couple of times, and apparently they've eradicated it twice.

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Speaker 3: They say they've eradicated it twice.

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Speaker 2: What's the problem with that, Well, the problem is is

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Speaker 2: that the UK claims to have eradicated the virus twice,

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Speaker 2: but they are still importing fruit tomatoes from four countries

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Speaker 2: and I can name them Belgium, Holland, Morocco and Spain.

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Speaker 3: That have the virus.

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Speaker 2: So the UK is still importing fruit from those four

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Speaker 2: countries because clearly they acknowledged that the virus, that the

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Speaker 2: fruit doesn't spread the virus, and we've seen we can

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Speaker 2: vouch for that.

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Speaker 3: Here.

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Speaker 1: Where's that report come from? That it spreads the virus?

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Speaker 2: They commissioned a report. I can't recall where the origin

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Speaker 2: of it, but it was some a scientist reported.

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Speaker 3: That the fruit spread the virus.

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Speaker 2: But I'd argue that that sciences probably has never grown

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Speaker 2: a tomato plant in his life.

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Speaker 1: Millions of dollars, that's what we're talking about.

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Speaker 2: Tens of millions, not millions, tens of millions.

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Speaker 1: That's unreal. And a company to keep going with that, well,

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Speaker 1: I wish you all the best in.

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Speaker 3: That, Thank you, Matthew.

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Speaker 2: Look, we're resilient, we're tough, and we've got a very

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Speaker 2: committed crew here at two Wells. A lot of the

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Speaker 2: team members have been here for many, many years, some

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Speaker 2: from day one way back in two thousand and seven

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Speaker 2: when we started. So we want to survive for them

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Speaker 2: and we'll do at the best that we can to

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Speaker 2: continue operations.

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Speaker 1: And you know what, even though you've let people go,

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Speaker 1: and we know how hard it is to find people

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Speaker 1: these days, are you going to be able to do

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Speaker 1: that to get back on your feet? If you get

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Speaker 1: the green lighters. Well, it's say it's today. I mean,

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Speaker 1: where do you find those people? Now?

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Speaker 2: Well, a lot of the people will come from the

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Speaker 2: Pacific Australia Labor Mobility Plan, the PALM scheme as it's called.

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Speaker 2: So a lot of them will come from that program,

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Speaker 2: but we'll need to retrain them. The ones that we've

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Speaker 2: let go that we're trained and now elsewhere in other

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Speaker 2: locations across Australia, but we need to retrain in the

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Speaker 2: next team, the next group of labor and labor and

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Speaker 2: pickers and so forth, once we're ready to go.

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Speaker 1: Michael, what gives you the confidence so the fruit doesn't

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Speaker 1: spread the virus.

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Speaker 2: We've seen other growers in North America and in the

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Speaker 2: UK continue their operations, and just recently, like as recent

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Speaker 2: as during this year, the USDA United States Department of

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Speaker 2: Agriculture released a report saying that the threat of fruit

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Speaker 2: spreading the virus is minimal next to no risks. So

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Speaker 2: you know, I'm confident of that. We're in touch with

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Speaker 2: all these operators in all other parts of the world.

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Speaker 2: They're just getting on with life. They're managing it. They're

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Speaker 2: growing nice fruit and providing fruit for consumers.

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Speaker 3: To eat and that's all we want to do.

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Speaker 1: And Michael, seeing the waste here today, it's criminal is

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Speaker 1: a word. I mean, just ripping out perfectly healthy plants

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Speaker 1: and throwing them in the bid And people will say, well,

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Speaker 1: can't you donate it to OZ harvest or you know,

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Speaker 1: food bank or send it off to the prison or whatever.

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Speaker 1: But you can't, can you?

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Speaker 3: No, we can't, we're not.

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Speaker 2: The fruit is not allowed to leave the site unless

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Speaker 2: it leaves to be deep buried.

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Speaker 1: And that's the other thing. What do we it's not COVID.

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Speaker 2: No, it's not COVID, and we're complying with those orders

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Speaker 2: to deep bury the fruit.

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Speaker 3: But it's costing us.

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Speaker 2: Three times the normal amount that we would otherwise spend

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Speaker 2: to remove plants at the end of their life, at

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Speaker 2: the peak of their life.

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Speaker 1: Like we are now incredible, Michael, as I say, it's

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Speaker 1: just criminals, seeing the wastage that's going on, and like,

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Speaker 1: I don't know how you can sleep at night honestly

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Speaker 1: seeing what's happening here and these empty glasshouses that you've

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Speaker 1: shown me today, just as a sad indictment really of

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Speaker 1: government policy, I suppose, and I don't think you'll disagree

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Speaker 1: with that. Thank you for your time. No, thank you, Matthew,

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Speaker 1: and all the best to you and everywhere much thank you,

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Speaker 1: Michael Simonette at CEO of Perfection Fresh. So that was

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Speaker 1: yesterday afternoon. I was out at two Wells having a

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Speaker 1: tour of the facility for a couple of hours and

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Speaker 1: just seeing the empty warehouse as photos up on Twitter

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Speaker 1: and Facebook and you can have a look for yourself,

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Speaker 1: and it's just it is criminal seeing perfectly healthy plants

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Speaker 1: being ripped out because bureaucrats are saying, well, we've got

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Speaker 1: to it seems we've got to treat this like COVID.

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Speaker 1: We'll have a read of that report that came out

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Speaker 1: the other day and see how well we manage that

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Speaker 1: as a nation. So a company here following international protocols

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Speaker 1: in dealing with the brown rugos virus in tomato plants,

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Speaker 1: having and isolated greenhouses at that. So it's found in

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Speaker 1: one and maybe a second and whatever wherever it's been found,

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Speaker 1: all the greenhouses are isolated from each other. There seems

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Speaker 1: to be little proof apart from a sentence in one

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Speaker 1: report saying the fruit can spread the virus from fruit

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Speaker 1: to fruit. That is in doubt by most growers would

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Speaker 1: not believe that, and no evidence to that effect. Anyway, Britain,

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Speaker 1: which has twice eradicated the virus, continues to import fruit

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Speaker 1: from impacted countries. As you heard Michael say, it's just ridiculous,

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Speaker 1: beyond ridiculous, and premiere, i'd er due Minister Clais Griffin

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Speaker 1: will be having a chat with the Minister tomorrow on this.

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Speaker 1: But enough's enough, isn't it. Livelihood's at stake this company,

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Speaker 1: as you heard Michael Simonetta say, at risk financially if

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Speaker 1: this continues for much longer. So they've cleared glasshouses, there's

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Speaker 1: a few to go. Surely once the place is empty

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Speaker 1: and already for the glasshouses cleared, they are all isolated,

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Speaker 1: they can start replanting. It's just a nonsense. They'd be

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Speaker 1: employing twelve hundred people right about now. There's two hundred

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Speaker 1: on site. Unreal. We can do better, can't we than

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Speaker 1: letting bureaucrats take control of this And yeah, I get eradication.

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Speaker 1: You don't want it here understood, But it doesn't seem

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Speaker 1: to spread. It seems to be in the seed and

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Speaker 1: it affects the plant itself, the individual plant, and by

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Speaker 1: clearing a few rows several thousand plants in this shie

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Speaker 1: should be enough. Now, I ate some of the tomatoes

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Speaker 1: hanging on the vines yesterday, tomatoes that were set to

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Speaker 1: be ripped out and thrown out. It's just criminal, and

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Speaker 1: it can't be taken off site because of PURSA rules.

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Speaker 1: It can't be donated to organizations that would love to

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Speaker 1: have tomatoes to serve up to people and including imagine

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Speaker 1: our prisons. They'd be saving money by having tomatoes delivered

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Speaker 1: for nothing, but can't be done in case we spread

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Speaker 1: this virus, which doesn't affect anything but the tomato plant itself.

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Speaker 1: It's just crazy. It'll be a Monty Python episode if

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Speaker 1: it wasn't so serious. But you know, you get governments

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Speaker 1: involved in bureaucrats and this is a result companies at

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Speaker 1: risk of going under unreal