❓ A WA parliamentary question addresses quarantine breaches and their potential impact on the state's agriculture industry, inquiring about intercepted contraband, staffing levels, and sniffer dog checks at border entry points. The answer provides data on these aspects, revealing fluctuations in intercepted materials and increases in sniffer dog checks.
AnsweredQoN 2211Legislative Council
Asked
25 June 2019
Member
Portfolio
Regional Development; Agriculture and Food; Ports; Minister Assisting the Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to an ABC Kimberley News Article on 19 May 2019, which stated that Western Australia's $8 billion agriculture industry is at risk from travellers breaching quarantine regulations when entering Western Australia, and I ask: (a) how many tonnes of contraband was seized or stopped at the Western Australia border in 2018 and is this an increase or decrease over the previous two years; (b) how many staff are located at each border inspection point, and have staffing numbers increased or decreased over the previous two years; and (c) how many sniffer dog checks were conducted at border inspection points in 2018 and how does this compare to the previous two years?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
20 August 2019
Responded by
Minister for Regional Development; Agriculture and Food; Ports; Minister Assisting the Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade
Response time
9 days
a) There were 50.8 tonnes of quarantine-risk material intercepted at interstate entry points during 2017-18. This was an increase from 2016-17, when 46.9 tonnes were intercepted, but a decrease from 2015-16, when 52 tonnes were intercepted.
(b) There are 10 quarantine inspectors at both the WA/NT and WA/SA Road Checkpoints and 4 quarantine inspectors at the domestic airport. There are also an additional 41 quarantine staff who inspect, certify and manage interstate imports and exports. The number of staff has not changed over the last 2 years.
(c) There were 6,663 interstate flights inspected by detector dogs in 2017-18. This was an increase from 2016-17 when 6,278 flights were inspected, and an increase from 2015-16 when 6,327 flights were inspected
(b) There are 10 quarantine inspectors at both the WA/NT and WA/SA Road Checkpoints and 4 quarantine inspectors at the domestic airport. There are also an additional 41 quarantine staff who inspect, certify and manage interstate imports and exports. The number of staff has not changed over the last 2 years.
(c) There were 6,663 interstate flights inspected by detector dogs in 2017-18. This was an increase from 2016-17 when 6,278 flights were inspected, and an increase from 2015-16 when 6,327 flights were inspected
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.