Yamba log book reveals fruit fly fines crackdown was called off at least 477 times amid traffic chaos, confusion, irate motorists
A “zero tolerance” crackdown meant to fine people caught at a fruit fly checkpoint was suspended close to 500 times amid an outbreak of “absolute chaos”, confusion and dangerous driving.
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A “zero tolerance” biosecurity crackdown which was supposed to fine people caught with fruit at checkpoints was suspended close to 500 times amid an outbreak of “absolute chaos” including mass confusion over signs, huge traffic jams and furious motorists.
Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister Tim Whetstone in January launched strict new emergency measures at the Yamba Quarantine Station in his Riverland electorate, which included on the spot fines of $375 and more, after an outbreak of fruit fly in Loxton.
Zero tolerance included stop and search of vehicles in a scaled-up bid to uncover the pest.
However a departmental whistleblower has told The Advertiser implementation of the plan was rushed and doomed from the start, resulting in threats to staff and dangerous driving.
The source also said problems with sun glare made signs unreadable, meaning that many well-intentioned people arrived at the station to forfeit fruit and were instead hit with fines.
A daily log book from the quarantine station which was filled in by departmental officers and has now been obtained by the Opposition under Freedom of Information, and describes in vivid detail how challenging it was for them to maintain control over the situation.
The log book includes 477 mentions of operations being “suspended”. It is understood that refers to times when officers ceased writing fines for fruit discovered during searches of cars, most often in a bid to speed up the processing of backlogged traffic and furious drivers.
Entries in the log book, which covers a period from January 4 to July 1, also refer to a SafeWork SA complaint relating to claims that staff were inadequately trained.
A lengthy note from January 5 makes clear that staff are beginning to raise concerns, which would continue to worsen over the coming months until significant new resources were added.
“With this being only day two, it has become very apparent that this zero policy is manageable within the work area when traffic is light, although if there were to be a higher percentage of vehicles with fruit I believe it would be a challenge,” officers note.
“Even today with light traffic, there were a couple of times when it almost got out of hand.
“I can only imagine the extreme difficulty in handling large volumes.”
Within a week, officers report that lines are “getting out of hand”, before reports begin to emerge of chaotic driving to escape the roadblock and a near miss head-on.
Mr Whetstone said the Government spent $2 million to upgrade the facilities and had moved to employ extra staff and install new signs and bins to ensure the policy was effective.
The whistleblower said preparation for the crackdown was woefully inadequate.
“That forced a situation where staff were at risk and there were irate motorists and dangerous traffic,” the source said. “People trying to do the right thing and hand over their fruit weren't able to see warning signs and were just getting hit with fines because of confusion.
“It was a complete mess”.
Opposition MP Blair Boyer said Mr Whetstone had been dishonest during Estimates when he answered that suspensions of fines had only occurred for “a small period of time”.
“These documents reveal that the so-called zero tolerance policy was being suspended hundreds of times, and often on a daily basis,” Mr Boyer said.
“The minister tried to keep the extent of this policy disaster a secret when he was asked about it in Parliament, but we can now see in black and white just how dangerous his lack of planning really was.”
Mr Whetstone said the Government was doing everything possible to protect the state’s $1.2 billion horticulture industry from fruit fly after Labor had been “lax” on biosecurity.
“Motorists were treating the Yamba Quarantine Station as a dumping zone, putting Riverland industries and communities at risk of economic devastation,” Mr Whetstone said.
“Zero tolerance is aimed at changing this culture of complacency and was implemented as an emergency response to a Queensland fruit fly outbreak. “In the first four months of zero tolerance at Yamba, officers seized fruit on five separate occasions that had fruit fly larvae.
“If drivers bring fruit into SA they will be stopped, searched and fined at Yamba.”