Applegrowers pleased with Commission protest

Hawke's Bay applegrowers were today heading back to their orchards after camping outside the Australian High Commission in Wellington demanding access for their apples to the Australian market.

The lobbyists, calling themselves the Australian Apple Access Group, set up camp outside the High Commission in the suburb of Thorndon last night, returning at dawn today in Wellington's chilly southerly.

Group spokesman Rupert Ryan said they had made the decision to strike camp as they felt they had had the chance to put their message to Australia that they wanted to receive a promised import risk analysis report on New Zealand apples.

"One of our representatives has been inside (the High Commission)... he talked with the staff and they assured him they would let Canberra know that we're really impatient.

"We've conveyed a message to them that we need a timeline now.

"We're saying 'hey look -- give us a definitive time instead of this soon, imminent, before the election, next week, in a few days'. It goes on and on and we're getting really sick of it."

Mr Ryan said the group still hoped to receive the import risk analysis report in the near future after first expecting an answer back in February.

"It's been dragging on for months -- it's just ridiculous."

Mr Ryan said the group had on a previous occasion been able to speak to the Australian High Commissioner Allan Hawke.

"He's been very helpful and he's just as concerned, and he appears to be just as sensitive about the delaying as we are."

The main reason usually given for denying New Zealand orchardists access to the Australian apple market has been that the fruit could spread the bacterial disease fireblight, which is endemic in New Zealand but has not been reported on Australian orchards.

In recent years, scientific evidence from New Zealand has suggested that clean ripe apples were unlikely to spread the disease.

- NZPA