Strawberry sabotage: PM’s new laws pass as Woolworths pulls sewing needles off shelves

SO-CALLED ‘food terrorists’ now face up to 15 years jail after the government passed new penalties, as Woolworths withdrew sewing needles from its shelves.

SUPERMARKET giant Woolworths has taken the extraordinary step of withdrawing sewing needles from its shelves nationally following the fruit tampering crisis.

“We’ve taken the precautionary step of temporarily removing sewing needles from sale in our stores. The safety of our customers is our top priority,” a Woolworths spokeswoman told AAP.

More than 100 reports of tampered fruit are being investigated by police across the country, many of which are thought to be fake or copycat cases.

Meanwhile, criminals who deliberately contaminate fruit will face up to 15 years in jail under tough new laws that passed parliament today.

As Australia’s strawberry sabotage crisis deepens, Prime Minister Scott Morrison this morning declared that no MP would leave Canberra today until the new penalties for food tampering were passed.

“I’m just focused on making sure no idiot goes into a supermarket this weekend and does something ridiculous,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Royalla in NSW.

“No one goes home until those bills are passed and I think that will send a very clear message.”

The harsh new penalties passed the House of Representatives unopposed before 11.30am this morning after just two hours of debate. They then passed the Senate.

MORE: Scott Morrison slams ‘grub’ responsible for strawberry contamination

Scott Morrison says he’s focused on stopping ‘idiots’ from doing something ridiculous. Picture: Kym Smith

The Prime Minister announced the tough new penalties for food tampering yesterday as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton confirmed more than 100 cases of fruit contamination were being investigated across the country.

Under the changes, penalties for food contamination will be increased from 10 to 15 years’ jail to bring them in line with child pornography and terror financing offences.

A new offence, which can be used to target copycat saboteurs or “idiots” who fake contamination cases, will cover being reckless in causing harm and will carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Sabotage laws will be updated to cover the most serious cases of food tampering which impact national security, with penalties ranging from seven to 25 years’ jail time.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten backed the measures after they were introduced to Parliament, saying they would hopefully act as strong deterrents to the “stupid, cowardly and frankly bizarre act” of tampering with fruit.

Mr Shorten took aim at the “media frenzy” over the crisis and response from some states however, which he said could have fuelled strawberry sabotage and prompted copycats.

But the Labor leader added that Australia had come through food scares before, saying: “On the way home tonight or if you’re in the supermarket on the weekend, I would encourage people to grab a punnet for yourself and a punnet for the nation.”

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus noted Labor’s concerns that there could be unintended consequences from rushing the legislation through and requested a review of the laws in coming months.

Mr Morrison told Parliament the government would facilitate the review, as he encouraged Australians to eat strawberries over the weekend and share recipes on Facebook to combat the negative messages.

Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra yesterday that police believed many of the fruit sabotage cases were hoaxes or copycat events.

One victim was taken to hospital after swallowing a needle in a strawberry. Picture: Facebook

“I would encourage anyone to pull any of that content down that they have posted up that is fictional or is of a fabricated arrangement,” he said.

Mr Morrison called the offenders “cowards” and “grubs” yesterday as he vowed to take action to deter offenders.

Federal MPs have lined up to back farmers by urging Australians to cut up strawberries, rather than cut them out as farmers are forced to dump their produce amid the sabotage scare.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the “parasites” responsible for spiking strawberries should “swing for this” and do hard time.

“The one thing that people can do better than government is go and buy strawberries. Stick it up these parasites by going into the supermarkets and buying strawberries,” he told ABC radio.

The agriculture minister has not received a full briefing from police as to where their investigations are at.

The Queensland and NSW governments are offering a reward to catch the culprits.

The government is also providing $1 million to make more food safety officials available to increase detection, fast-track recalls and assist the industry to rebuild confidence.

NEW HELP FOR FARMERS ANNOUNCED

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister announced new measures this morning to help get hay and fodder to drought-afflicted farmers sooner.

The measures will slash red tape for farmers shipping hay across the country by removing the need for trucks to have permits to travel on state and national-controlled roads.

“We want them to keep on trucking all the way and not get caught up by unnecessary red tape,” Mr Morrison said.

It comes after Mr Morrison announced a national drought summit would be held on October 26 which will discuss options including new welfare handouts.

Originally published as Strawberry sabotage: PM’s new laws pass as Woolworths pulls sewing needles off shelves