Bob Katter

]Mr Katter recently caught up with a local flower grower from Boogan in the Kennedy Electorate, Heidi Piccolo, from Basilisk Blooms, who says that Australian flower farmers are facing increased airline freight costs and need as much support as they can get from the public and government.

“Things are getting very hard because airline freight costs have jumped up by 40 percent, we’ve had cyclones, we’ve had floods, and we’ve had pests like the Fall Armyworm,” she said.

“We are trying to keep costs down, but we are left with no choice but to pass some of that cost onto consumers. The reduction in commercial passenger flights around Australia due to covid, meant there was less availability for freight, and the prices went up.

“Having country of origin labelling would benefit the local industry a lot. If people in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane know that our flowers are grown in Australia then they will buy them.”

Kennedy MP, Bob Katter said his electorate has lost nearly 20 flower growers since free market policies were introduced by the major parties, and imports had become more common.

“Country of origin labelling should not exclude flowers. Everyone would spend a couple of hundred dollars a year on flowers on birthdays and Mother’s Days. People cannot support Aussie growers if they don’t know where their flowers are from,” Mr Katter said. 

“Each flower farm would provide four or five jobs, so it’s been a great loss. The Federal Government insisted that all flowers going out of Australia must be inspected, and they charge $300 an hour. Whereas only 20 percent of imported flowers are inspected when they come into Australia. They bring in pests and diseases. It is a huge biosecurity risk.

“These policies have given a free kick to importers and a kick in the head to Australian flower growers. You just cannot and help but think that the big corporations are running the government.” -ENDS-