It is a pity that Bill Heffernan dropped a tonne of raw prawns on wheat growers during the single desk debate and stood firmly with his big end of town Liberal mates whilst they gutted us.

Good on you Bill. Stick it to them. We don't need imported seafood from the world's most heavily polluted waters with God knows what diseases lying dormant in them. AQIS doesn't care and/or are too incompetent to control imports properly. Give the Aussie fishermen a fair chance of making a living.

I love a laugh as much as the next person but in reality, Australia has to be able to give us a product that is affordable as well as decent. If that happens, I'll buy the Aussie product.

Well done. There should be more support like this by our politicians. Too often they sell us out for a far inferior overseas product. All Australian primary producers should be supported for producing top-quality, clean and green products. We need to educate shoppers to "walk with their feet" and leave imported products "on the shelf".

Atheistno1 you state "Australia has to be able to give us product that is affordable as well as decent. If that happens, I'll buy the Aussie Product". The problem is Australian producers are bound by bureaucracy and red tape which has caused significant increases in the cost of production. Something that overseas products are not subjected to. You expect to be paid award wages, how about Australian producers start paying the same wages as Vietnam and China, and get rid of the Bulls*@t associated with producing clean green products and we will be able to be affordable. But instead consumers want to preserve the Australian environment but not mind if overseas products come from cleared rainforest or polluted rivers. Talk about double standards.

As a nation we enjoy exporting grain, seafood, meat, dairy and timber products and it should be a high priority to protect those industries from disease. However, if our international customers took the same parochial attidude to imported products from Australia, we wouldn't have an export market. It's called free trade!

Exporter - wake up free trade does not exist - ask the Americans - nor does the so called "level playing field". You are in dream land.

I think it is ridiculous that Aussie product must be encouraged this way. Any patriotic Aussie will defnitely buy Aussie product, but they also need a healthy mix, and as someone said don't forget we Aussies are an exporting nation, what if we got the same treatment? India has just lifted a ban on Aussie dairy produce after years of lobbying bringing a smile on Aussie dairy farmers faces and money in thier accounts ... allow free trade but ensure education on the product use it is better than quarantine wasting money on testing and policing...

“Agriculture contributes roughly 3 percent of the GDP and employs about 4 percent of the total workforce directly.

"While the sector's contribution to the GDP is small, raw and unprocessed agricultural commodities contribute about a quarter of Australia's total export earnings each year and Australia exports a great deal more agricultural produce than it imports.

"In 1998, agricultural exports from Australia were estimated at US$15.14 billion, in comparison to the US$3.11 billion worth of agricultural imports for the same year.

“Exports account for over 90 percent of wool and cotton production, nearly 80 percent of wheat, over 50 percent of barley and rice, over 40 percent of beef and grain legumes, over 30 percent of dairy products, and nearly 20 percent of fruit production.”

The above two quotes are from Encyclopaedia of the Nations, found at http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/

We all know that Bill Heffernan has always been one of Australia’s best attention-seeking staged-managed political publicity stuntmen, and this exercise is yet another example of this, designed to appeal to those less inclined or less able to think for themselves, and who are, in any event, usually totally guided in their views, by self-interest.

Given the above quotes, which may be somewhat out of date, but still clearly illustrate the essential points that Australia’s agricultural industries represents an important but miniscule percentage of the Australian economy, (transport contributes more than agriculture to our GDP) and that its continued contribution and prosperity, as insignificant as it is in the big picture, is totally dependent upon exports for its future, perhaps someone may wish to respond to the following:

Where is the logic in arguing that imports should be prohibited whilst at the same time, arguing that the barriers to Australian exports should be constantly lowered?

Do people who argue this not understand basic economics?

Why do proponents of protection expect AQIS to carry out their protectionist agenda?

Do they (and good old Bill) really believe AQIS is not doing it job?

Why are protectionists not prepared to allow consumers to exercise their rights to spend their consumer dollars as they wish?

Has Trugger looked at recent seafood import/export figures? It seems the figures indicate that we do need seafood imports.

What education programs does 'farmers wife' propose be instigated to convince consumers to act against their demonstrable best interests? What evidence can exim provide that “Any patriotic Aussie will definitely buy Aussie product“? Whilst this is what a large percentage of consumers say they will do, all you have to do is watch shoppers’ behaviour in supermarkets to see that it is rhetoric and not a realistic statement of intentions.

Free trade, as imperfect as it is, has and will continue to be in the best interests of the Australian economy and the Australian people, and that the decision-makers in parliament recognise this is a good thing, a very good thing, for our future. Any movement which wishes to take us down the protectionist path that leads to economic mediocrity and political isolation should be shown up for what it is: self-interest cloaking itself in nationalism and false principles.

As usual, one person has to over analyze the issue. The issue here is not import/export, economic or Encyclopaedia of the Nations related, it's about biosecurity & the effects on local environments. Just look at what fisherman are doing with a product "not to be used as bait", & for good reason. If these hazards were inflicted upon our local environment & heavens above our own people, the effects would be astronomical! You might as well say goodbye to aussie exports. We do need seafood imports, but not ones that could destroy our own local product, to which we export!!!! No one said anything about the cooked or processed imported products, which are fine. You sound like an import lobbyest Bushie, you gotta look at the greater good for Australia & not be so one sided with your acceptance on imports. Bill Heffernan - GO YOU GOOD THING!