Man in stoush with government over fruit fly border controls vows to continue legal action

A Victorian man has beaten a fine by taking the government to court after it sparked a border debacle with a botched fruit fly crackdown. But he’s not letting them off that easily.

• State Govt to net $5m in fines from fruit fly crackdown
• There has been a major fruit fly outbreak in SA this year

The man at the centre of a fruit fight with the State Government is still preparing legal action despite having his $375 fine for carrying fruit past a checkpoint near the SA border scrapped.

Victorian David Barton was one of 3000 people hit with fines for bringing fruit into SA who sought to have them overturned, amid claims of mass confusion over a “zero tolerance” pest crackdown.

Dr Barton has had his fine overturned due to an administrative error – it was sent to the wrong address.

Victorian David Barton was given a fine for trying to hand over fruit at the Yamba fruit fly station. Picture: Supplied

“I feel a bit like Al Capone being convicted for tax evasion. I received a waiver on a bureaucratic technicality,” Dr Barton said.

Despite the reprieve, he is still pursuing legal action.

“I have lodged my proposal for a class action with Maurice Blackburn and am waiting to hear back from them,” he said.

“I am putting the finishing touches on my ICAC-OPI (Office for Public Integrity) and Ombudsman complaints which I shall lodge shortly. I will continue to campaign against this absurd law.”

The huge rate of people fighting fines comes after widespread complaints that travellers who voluntarily handed over fruit at the Yamba checkpoint were told it was too late and that they should have disposed of it earlier.

The government has spent $2m upgrading infrastructure and says clear warnings and public education messages have left no excuses.

New Primary Industries Minister David Basham said:

“It is no longer acceptable to avoid penalty by surrendering or declaring fruit at Yamba or at the random roadblocks and anyone caught with fruit fly host material will be issued with a $375 fine.”