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Speaker 1: As we understand it, work can now begin on eradicating

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Speaker 1: banana freckle in the Northern Territory with a response plan approved.

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Speaker 1: Now the disease has been found at forty two properties,

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Speaker 1: mostly in the Bachelor and Rum Jungle region since May.

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Speaker 1: Now Claire Morton, who is indeed the principal plant biosecurity officer,

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Speaker 1: joins me on the line right now to explain the

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Speaker 1: eradication effort. Good morning to you, Claire.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie. Are you yeah really well?

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Speaker 1: Thank you for your time this morning. Firstly, Claire, what

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Speaker 1: is banana freckle for anyone out there who might not

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Speaker 1: actually know.

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Speaker 2: So, banana freckles a fungal disease that affects banana plants.

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Speaker 2: It's symptoms. You see black or brown spots on the

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Speaker 2: leaves or on the fruit and it feels like sandpaper

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Speaker 2: to touch.

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Speaker 1: And so, Claire, how widespread is it in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: So, as you said, most of the infection as focused

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Speaker 2: in that Rum Jungle Bachelor area. We have picked up

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Speaker 2: a couple of properties in middle Point in Marrakai in

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Speaker 2: Fly Creek and a couple on the Tiwii Islands.

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Speaker 1: And so are we talking sort of smaller farms. Are

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Speaker 1: we talking individual growers? What kind of properties are we

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Speaker 1: talking about?

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Speaker 2: So the majority of premises that are affected are residential properties.

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Speaker 2: They range from small properties to large rural plots. We

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Speaker 2: only have, fortunately, only one commercial grower who was affected.

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Speaker 1: It must be tough on those that are commercial growers,

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Speaker 1: I mean tough on everybody, but particularly those who obviously

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Speaker 1: make a living from bananas.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and we're doing everything we can to support them.

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Speaker 2: That's why we have sought approval from the national committees

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Speaker 2: to go ahead with eradication to support not only the

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Speaker 2: growers that are affected, but all the other growers in

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Speaker 2: the Antea and on Australia.

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Speaker 1: So Claire talk us through this plan and exactly what

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Speaker 1: it involves.

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Speaker 2: So the strategy that we have had a proof at

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Speaker 2: this time is to remove plants on infected properties. So

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Speaker 2: those forty two properties that you're referred to, we will

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Speaker 2: be going into those premises very shortly to remove all

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Speaker 2: the banana. Banana plants. Properties in the surrounding area will

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Speaker 2: continue to do surveillance to make sure that those plants

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Speaker 2: remain healthy.

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Speaker 1: And what sort of ongoing monitoring will there be and

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Speaker 1: how do you you know, I guess eradicating it is,

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Speaker 1: you know, is what needs to happen, But how do

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Speaker 1: you continue to monitor us?

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Speaker 2: So we've got a team of surveillance officers who will

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Speaker 2: be going out into all of those areas and that

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Speaker 2: will continue for some time to make sure that there

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Speaker 2: is no further sign of the disease. We also really

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Speaker 2: appreciate the support of the community to check their plants

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Speaker 2: and let us know not only if they see symptoms

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Speaker 2: of this there's suspect signs on many of their banana plants,

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Speaker 2: but also they've got healthy plants. That really helps us

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Speaker 2: to prove that we have eradicated the disease.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so we'll only be those properties that are affected

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Speaker 1: at this point. We're not sort of we're not eradicating

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Speaker 1: or we're not destroying all banana plants around the territory.

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Speaker 2: That's right. That's the approach that we've gone through this time.

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Speaker 2: We're hoping to minimize the impact on the community. Obviously

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Speaker 2: we appreciate their support and getting into to inspect those

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Speaker 2: healthy plants, but it means that we don't then have

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Speaker 2: to remove all the plants.

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Speaker 1: Claire, as I understand, it was first detected here in May.

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Speaker 1: Why has it taken so long to come up with

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Speaker 1: a plan to remove it?

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Speaker 2: So it takes a little bit of time, I guess,

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Speaker 2: to go through the process of developing our strategy. We

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Speaker 2: unfortunately have had a couple of these additional detections in

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Speaker 2: those other areas and so we've had to revise our

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Speaker 2: approach a couple of times and seek reapproval. But we're

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Speaker 2: really pleased that those national committees continue to support the

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Speaker 2: eradication program.

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Speaker 1: And Claire, what's been the reaction you know to those

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Speaker 1: people that that's crop or that you know their plants

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Speaker 1: do indeed have been on a freckle. What's been their

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Speaker 1: reaction as they've found out the Northern Territory government's plan.

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Speaker 2: Look, we've had a lot of support and particularly in

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Speaker 2: that rom Jungle Bachelor region. I think they're very understanding.

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Speaker 2: Obviously a lot of them have been through this previously,

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Speaker 2: but they understand the importance of biosecurity and we need

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Speaker 2: to protect the noign industry and the territory.

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Speaker 1: And do we have any idea at this point in

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Speaker 1: time if there's going to be compensation provided, you know,

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Speaker 1: if any to the commercial farms to that commercial farm

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Speaker 1: that's been impacted.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so through the National Emergency Plant pass response. See,

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Speaker 2: there is an own a reimbursement cost process and we

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Speaker 2: will support the growers through an application to get claims

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Speaker 2: under that and that will be approved through those national committee.

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Speaker 2: So absolutely we are pursuing that process.

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Speaker 1: Well, Claire Morton, the Principal Plant Biosecurity Officer, we really

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much for

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Speaker 1: having a quick chat with us.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you,