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Speaker 1: We know that surveillance is being polstered to manage an

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Speaker 1: aggressive pest worm which has been found at more sites

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Speaker 1: across the Northern Territory. Guava root not nematod, which can

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Speaker 1: destroy fruit and vegetable crops, was first detected in Darwen

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Speaker 1: last month, and Chief Health Plant Officer Doctor Anne Walters

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Speaker 1: joins me on the line right now to provide a

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Speaker 1: bit of an update on the pest. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Hello, honk going, yeah, really well.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. And now

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Speaker 1: how many sites has the pest been detected at now

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Speaker 1: and whereabouts are they?

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Speaker 2: Yes, was now detected at seven Conferm Science. When I

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Speaker 2: first spoke to you about this last month, we talked

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Speaker 2: about the facts that it was that middle Point Malach

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Speaker 2: and Palmestan and Rapid Creek, but we've now also founded Atenora,

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Speaker 2: Leana and on Croker Island.

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Speaker 1: Right now, can you just remind us about the nematod

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Speaker 1: and its impacts.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's a microscopic pest, so you can't see it.

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Speaker 2: It's a round worm and it lives in the soil

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Speaker 2: and the impact on the plant is that it affects

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Speaker 2: the roots of the plants, and the plant's response is

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Speaker 2: to create these knots on their roots, which is hence

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Speaker 2: the name guava root, not nematodes. And it's when the

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Speaker 2: plant starts to fail or die that people start to

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Speaker 2: remove their plants and see these gauls or not on

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Speaker 2: the roots of the plant. And that's when you know

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Speaker 2: that this is likely to be the pest that you've got.

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Speaker 1: And what does it you know, what does it do

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Speaker 1: to the plant? It sounds as though it does have

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Speaker 1: quite a bad impact. What does it do and what

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Speaker 1: does it mean for territorians at this point, Yes, it burrows.

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Speaker 2: Into the plant and then the plant responds, but obviously

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Speaker 2: in responding it puts a lot of energy into you know,

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Speaker 2: trying to find what this invasive thing is it and

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Speaker 2: it often more than starts to fail, it's not as

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Speaker 2: healthy in some cases that will die. So it really

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Speaker 2: is a significant test. Like I said, you can't you

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Speaker 2: don't know it's there unless you start to see the

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Speaker 2: plants that it likes to feed on affected, and that

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Speaker 2: things like cucumbers and tomatoes and a whole range of

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Speaker 2: other things. And so what we're I guess suggesting is

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Speaker 2: that people are really careful, and they're moving plants and

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Speaker 2: soil around in particular because you can easily move this

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Speaker 2: pest around, and we're suggesting that if you're using machinery

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Speaker 2: or equipment or even with your boots, just making sure

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Speaker 2: that you clean those between moving from site to science.

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Speaker 1: Now I understand that obviously surveillance is being ramped up.

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Speaker 1: What exactly does that involve.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're looking at doing surveillance obviously, but we're

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Speaker 2: also really keen for people to let us know it's

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Speaker 2: so suspicious that they might have it, or they'd like

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Speaker 2: to get us to come and have a look at

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Speaker 2: some plants that they're worried about or whatever. And we're

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Speaker 2: getting people just to call us in on one eight

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Speaker 2: hundred zero eight four eight eighty one. And like I said,

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Speaker 2: so we're taking samples, but we're also going to be

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Speaker 2: doing our own surveillance, particularly commercial properties, just to make

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Speaker 2: sure that the growers know what to look for and

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Speaker 2: what to report, but also that their biosecurity practices are

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Speaker 2: really well in place and so that they can reduce

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Speaker 2: the risk that this pest will come onto their property.

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Speaker 1: And at this point, have any of those commercial growers

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Speaker 1: like are they impacted at this point in time.

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Speaker 2: No, well, we've got one commercial grower that's impacted, and

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Speaker 2: that was actually how we first detected the pest. So

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Speaker 2: obviously growers out all the time, they're looking at their crops,

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Speaker 2: and this particular grow was concerned about his cucumbers and

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Speaker 2: he contacted us and we went down and that's how

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Speaker 2: we first had the suspicion that we've got this particular

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Speaker 2: and in the toad in the territory. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Right, And so how is a grower like that being

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Speaker 1: supported and how those other growers being supported to sort

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Speaker 1: of I know you said you'll be some of your

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Speaker 1: team are going to be heading out and educating them

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Speaker 1: and chatting with them about it. Is that how they

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Speaker 1: are going to be supported?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And one of the other things that we're really

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Speaker 2: interested in doing is getting a project up to see

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Speaker 2: if we can better understand whether there's ways that we

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Speaker 2: can manage this pest most effectively. So we will be

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Speaker 2: working in the industry on that as well. And this

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Speaker 2: particular grower, the first founder, is really keen on being

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Speaker 2: involved in that type of research so that not only

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Speaker 2: is he able to protect his own fun but also

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Speaker 2: that of others.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and what should those grow, Like, what are they

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Speaker 1: on the lookout for, and what's your message to them?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess the thing that we're really suggesting is

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Speaker 2: just be really vigilant with the things that you bring

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Speaker 2: onto your property. So it might be things like, you know,

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Speaker 2: you're bringing new plants on, perhaps quarantine them for a

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Speaker 2: while and make sure that they're not infected with something,

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Speaker 2: that the plants are healthy when you actually introduce them

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Speaker 2: into your system, because as soon as you introduce the soil,

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Speaker 2: it's really difficult obviously, So if you've got contaminated soil,

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Speaker 2: then you're introducing it into your system and that means

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Speaker 2: that you're more likely to spread this pest. So it's

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Speaker 2: suggesting that anything that has soil attached to it just

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Speaker 2: to be really careful of when you're bringing it onto

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Speaker 2: your property. Like I said, if you can wash things

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Speaker 2: and clean them, that's the best approach.

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Speaker 1: And is the Northern Territory working with other jurisdictions as

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Speaker 1: well to try and manage these Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Well, at the moment they're othern Territory is the only

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Speaker 2: one that's got it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: One of the things that we have suggested to other

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Speaker 2: jurisdictions is that they do since surveillance themselves just to

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Speaker 2: check out whether they might have it. But the other

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Speaker 2: thing that we are suggesting is that they go back

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Speaker 2: through their historical specimens and just make sure that they

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Speaker 2: didn't misdive those, which is really easy to do because

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Speaker 2: this pest is so closely related to other species, so

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Speaker 2: there is a possibility of misdiagnosis. So we are working

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Speaker 2: with other jurisdictions to help them to do the surveillments,

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Speaker 2: but also to make sure that they've got the diagnose

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Speaker 2: gnostics right in case they do have this pest themselves.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I guess that could be the concern for

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Speaker 1: them is that they actually do and don't realize at

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Speaker 1: this point.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, because given how widespread is in the

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Speaker 2: Northern territory, you know, we're talking from Middle Point through

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Speaker 2: to Croak Island, it is really widespread. It suggests that

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Speaker 2: it's been here for some time, and that also suggests

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Speaker 2: that there has been a possibility that it could have

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Speaker 2: been moved to other places inadvertently.

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Speaker 1: And also, I guess the question that people are going

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Speaker 1: to be wondering right now as well an is how

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Speaker 1: do we sort of end up with it in the territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a really hard one and I don't know

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Speaker 2: if we'll ever know the answer to that. It's a

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Speaker 2: really big problem in plant bio securities often that we

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Speaker 2: can't work out where things have come from. So at

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Speaker 2: this stage we haven't got anything that we can say

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Speaker 2: it was from this situation. It can be someone coming,

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Speaker 2: you know, with something that they didn't even realize that

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Speaker 2: they might have been carrying the pest from overseas. But

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Speaker 2: also if it is in another location domestically, it's possible

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Speaker 2: that is coming through there, but at this stage there's

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Speaker 2: nothing to suggest it is present in those places, and

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Speaker 2: like I said, we're just supporting those other jurisdictions to

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Speaker 2: help them to do that surveillance.

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Speaker 1: Well, Chief Health Plant Officer, Doctor Anne Walters, we always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thanks so much for coming on the

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Speaker 1: show this morning.

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Speaker 2: It's always a pleasure. Thank you, Thank you,