Fruit sabotage ‘idiots’ face 15 years in jail under tough new laws
COPYCAT “idiots” who stick pins in fruit or contaminate food in any other reckless manner will face lengthy jail terms under new laws to be rushed through parliament this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.
NSW
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COPYCAT “idiots” who stick pins in fruit or contaminate food in any other reckless manner will face 10 years behind bars under new laws to be rushed through parliament this week.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also announced the maximum jail time for criminals who “intend” to cause harm would be increased to 15 years.
Mr Morrison warned the “idiots and grubs” who were ruining growers businesses and scaring mums and children that the government would “throw the book at them”.
“The clear message is this: this is not on,” Mr Morrison said.
“It’s not a joke it’s not funny.”
Attorney-General Christian Porter said there were already a raft of crimes that offenders could be charged under but these changes would add extra weight to what was considered “very serious criminal behaviour”.
The new laws would provide a lower bar for prosecutors to meet in cases where it could not be proven that there was an intention to cause harm which would now be thrown out.
It would cover cases such as people who have posted pictures of contaminated fruit to social media which were not in fact tampered.
Mr Morrison said it was important to send an immediate deterrent to stop the “shocking and cowardly” behaviour.
He has demanded politicians stay in Canberra until these laws are passed.
“Important to send a very clear message to ensure we have the right penalties and offences,” Mr Morrison said.
More than 100 reports
Police are investigating more than 100 reports of contaminated fruit as copycat criminals appear around the country.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton attempted to alay consumer fears saying law enforcement agencies believed many of the cases are hoaxes.
“But the most important point is it’s a diversion of resources, policing resources, when we want to find the true culprits,” he said.
“We don’t want policing resources being distracted and diverted into posters being put up, people might think they are funny.
“People might think that somehow this is an image to be shared, but all it does is distract from the main policing effort.”
AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin indicated there were no firm suspects.
“The Queensland Police have the lead on the investigation. It’s very fluid. There are a number of avenues of inquiry we are following up,” he said.
“They (Queensland Police) are coordinating well with jurisdictions around the country.”
Mr Colvin blasted hoaxes and copycat criminals for wasting police resources.
“This is not amusing and it is a waste of police time chasing down hoax and copycat crimes,” he said.
“Let me be very clear, if there’s anyone that thinks this is in any way using or appropriate to walk into a supermarket anywhere in this country and place a foreign object into a piece of fruit or they think it’s anyway appropriate or amusing to take a photo of fruit they may already have and to put an object into it and put it on Facebook or Twitter and to spread it around and contact health authorities, they are seriously deluded and they are potentially committing serious criminal offences.”
Joyce calls for big reward
Earlier, Barnaby Joyce called for a substantial reward to hunt down those behind the strawberry needle contamination crisis.
The former Nationals leader says the criminals responsible must be “pursued and hunted down”, while anyone withholding information is also committing a crime by not reporting it.
“The reward … has to be substantially increased to hunt this person down,” Mr Joyce told the Nine Network on Wednesday.
“It is not only a threat to the strawberry industry, it is a threat across the food production industry. We have got to treat it as such.”
Mr Joyce pleaded for supermarket chains to not give into the criminal actions and they should continue to stock strawberries as an act of defiance.
“We can show our support for the industries by buying strawberries,” he said.
“If we just take them off the shelves, we are saying to this person, ‘you succeeded — your criminal act succeeded’.”
Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie said the federal government was putting in $1 million to increase confidence in the food industry, by helping fast track recalls and increase detection of sabotage.
“We are committed to making sure that mums and dads, when they go to their greengrocer or supermarket to purchase our fabulous homegrown product, they will have the confidence that it is not contaminated,” she told the Seven Network on Wednesday.
Strawberries being dumped
Mountains of strawberries are being dumped and some NSW farmers may lose their entire crop as police admitted yesterday they have no leads on finding whoever is sticking needles into fruit being sold across Australia.
Authorities warned “hysteria” was taking hold as families shunned strawberries at the supermarket due to the national contamination scare, which experts said could cripple the industry.
And fear was spreading, as isolated cases of metal spikes being hidden in apples and bananas emerged, including a Kellyville mother who discovered a needle in the pink lady she was peeling for her daughter.
20 needles found in a week
NSW Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty yesterday said more than 20 needles had been found in fruit across the state in the past week, from Tweed Heads to Albury, and urged the culprits to end the havoc.
“You are still causing alarm and anxiety to the public, you are causing economic loss to an industry, you are creating hysteria and making it a perilous adventure just to go and buy some fruit at a supermarket and feed your family,” Supt Doherty said.
He said there were no confirmed suspects and no demands had been received from anyone claiming to be behind the sabotage. Anyone found guilty of contaminating food faces up to 10 years in prison, Supt Doherty said.
The contamination crisis began in Queensland last week, resulting in fruit from three major producers being pulled from shelves. Since then, needles and pins have been reported in strawberries in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and the ACT.
Early reports suggested a disgruntled farm worker may be behind the initial contamination in Queensland, though this was not confirmed. Authorities believe copycats are responsible for many incidents since then.
Devastating images emerged yesterday showing truckloads of strawberries being dumped at a family farm in Elimbah, Queensland, because they could not be sold.
“This here is worth more than you could ever imagine and within three days we lost it all,” Leena Lee Cufari, who supplies Donnybrook Berries, said of the wasted fruit.
“We are doing everything we can to get our company back up and running.”
‘Knee jerk reaction’
Strawberries Australia deputy chairman Bryan Taylor said the risk of contamination was tiny but it would have a major impact across the industry because it would cause a “knee jerk reaction”.
“This will cost people their farms, it could be catastrophic for the industry,” Mr Taylor said.
He stressed there was nothing physically wrong with the strawberries being sold adding, “if consumers cut them into quarters they can be assured they are safe”.
In NSW, needles have been reported in fruit at Taree, Tweed Heads, Maitland and Wingham, as well as Engadine and Mona Vale.
Kellyville mother Camella Decarlo yesterday said she discovered a needle in an apple she bought from Woolworths as she peeled it for her daughter’s lunch box.
“It just freaked me out because I’m thinking my daughter normally just grabs and just bites into apples,” she told Seven News.
Police are also investigating after a needle was reportedly found on Monday in a banana bought from a Condell Park grocery store.
Nationals deputy leader McKenzie called the contamination “deliberate sabotage” and vice-president of the Queensland Strawberry Growers Association, Adrian Schultz, said what started with a single “act of commercial terrorism” has now brought a multimillion-dollar industry to its knees.
“I’m angry for all the associated people — the farmers, the people who supply them, the packaging people, the truckies with families — who … lose their jobs,” he said.