Sir Job’s seeds ‘from garden’

Press, 12 August 1985, Page 1

Sir Job’s seeds ‘from garden’

NZPA-AAP Brisbane Seeds which the Premier of Queensland, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, allegedly imported into Australia had come from a native creeper growing in his own garden and on his son’s property in central Queensland, Sir Joh said yesterday.

The seeds were confiscated by customs officers when Sir Joh, Senator Flo Bjelke-Petersen and their party arrived at Brisbane Airport from London last week.

Sir Joh said yesterday that he was determined to find out who had ordered the special search of his luggage. He dismissed any thought of the seeds being contaminated.

“The only place they would have been contaminated is in one of those Labour states I travelled through," he said. “They had been out of our own garden. They’ve been in our garden for years. “If they (customs officers)

had had the decency to ask me I would have told them what they were.” Sir Joh said the seeds were of the native creeper Pandorea jasminoides, which was growing at his Kingaroy home and on his son John’s property in central Queensland. He said that the seeds, found by Customs officers last Monday, had been in the zipper compartment of a small travelling bag for some months. He had put them in the

bag and forgotten they were there, he said. He had probably travelled overseas with the seeds in his bag before. The Customs Department is awaiting results of a quarantine examination, of the seeds before deciding whether to take action against Sir Joh. Sir Joh had been invested by the Queen with his knighthood while in London. He could face an sAustso,ooo ($68,000) fine

and a five-year jail term if the seeds were prohibited under the Quarantine Act and the maximum penalties were imposed, according to Assistant Director of Plant Health and Quarantine, Mr Albert Catley. However, the seeds would have to pose significant quarantine risks to attract that sort of penalty. The average fine for quarantine offences was sAust2oo ($272) in New South Wales and sAust4oo ($544) in other states.