EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1983 NO. 299
QUARANTINE (ANIMALS) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
- IMPORTATION OF BEES
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Health
Sub-section 87(1) of the Quarantine Act 1908 provides that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.
The importation of bees is currently governed by Quarantine Proclamation No. 76A and regulations 32 and 35 of the Quarantine (Animals) Regulations.
Quarantine Proclamation No. 76A prohibits the importation of queen bees and escort bees unless:
(i) the bees are consigned to the Chief Quarantine Officer of the State or Territory into which the bees are to be imported, and
(ii) a declaration is furnished to the Chief Quarantine Officer from the owner of the apiary from which the bees were exported declaring that both the bees and the apiary are free of disease, and
(iii) a certificate is received from the Government veterinary surgeon or other responsible government officer responsible for agriculture in the exporting country, certifying that the bees are from an area that is free from disease affecting bees and that Isle of Wight disease does not exist in that country.
Regulation 32 of the Quarantine (Animals) Regulations provides that bees from any country shall not be landed in Australia unless they are consigned to the Chief Quarantine Officer for the animals division of quarantine in any State or Territory and the documentary evidence referred to in Quarantine Proclamation No. 76A, is tendered.
Sub-regulation 35(3) provides that queen bees which are ordered into quarantine shall remain in quarantine until a microscopic examination of the escort bees has been completed.
Quarantine Proclamation No. 111A and these regulations provide that the importation of honey bees (Apis mellifera (L.)) from Canada, New Zealand or the United States of America, shall be permitted, subject to certain conditions and that the importation of honey bees from other countries and the importation of other types of
bees in general, shall be prohibited except in special circumstances or for scientific purposes.
It is considered that honey bees from North America and New Zealand present less risk of disease to Australian bees than do honey bees from other countries, because of the low incidence of chalkbrood disease and the Africanised bee in North America and New Zealand.
Quarantine Proclamation No. 111A amended Proclamation No. 76A by omitting from the First Schedule the provisions relating to queen bees and escort bees, and providing that honey bees from Canada, New Zealand or the United States may be imported into Australia if the Director of Quarantine is satisfied that they would not introduce disease. The Proclamation also prohibits the importation of honey bees from countries other than Canada, New Zealand and the United States and the importation of all other varieties of bees, except where the Minister has
given his consent to importation for scientific purposes or on account of special circumstances, and appropriate quarantine arrangements are made.
The regulations repeal current regulation 32 and sub-regulation 35(3) and insert new regulation 39 which relates to honey bees (Apis mellifera (L.)) only.
Sub-regulation 39(1) provides that queen bees imported from New Zealand may be released from quarantine after an examination of the escort bees has established that the release of the queen bee would not spread disease in Australia. The escort bees are destroyed and examined microscopically for this purpose.
Sub-regulations 39(2) and (3) have the effect that queen bees imported from Canada or the United States will be placed in a hive with
Australian escort bees, where their eggs are laid and reared to larvae stage. The imported escort bees from Canada or the United States are destroyed and examined microscopically for disease. If they are found to be free of disease, the larvae which have been reared in quarantine are released to the importer.
The distinction is drawn in the regulations between bees imported from North America and those imported from New Zealand because of the increasing risk of the contamination of North American bees from bees migrating from South and Central America. No similar risk exists to bees in New Zealand.
In order to protect Australia’s apiary industry, the only alternative to this legislation is a total prohibition on the importation of bees. Such an approach would prove counterproductive because of the ease with which bees can be forwarded internationally in the mail.