Australians are overwhelmingly opposed to foreign fruit imports, calling for the government to block applications, a new survey has found.<\/p>\n
The News Corp Australia readers\u2019 poll, conducted as part of this masthead\u2019s Back Australia campaign, found 96 per cent want new applications for foreign bananas, kiwifruit and pineapples spiked.<\/p>\n
Queensland banana grower Paul Inderbitzin said given the \u201cextreme\u201d risk of disease coming into the country, \u201cwhy would we want to jeopardise our industry for not much gain?\u201d<\/p>\n
Reader Nancy agrees, adding: \u201cIt is ridiculous to put our farmers and their crops at risk by allowing imports which could quite possibly introduce crop diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark added: \u201cThis is just another example of the federal government\u2019s contempt for Australian businesses. Why do we need to import fruit when we can grow the majority?\u201d<\/p>\n
Barry was blunt: \u201cBuy local, eat local, support Australia grown!\u201d<\/p>\n
Aussies also want action on the brain drain, with 87 per cent (of 593 respondents) saying government should do more to help Aussies abroad return home. <\/p>\n
AUSTRALIA\u2019S AMBITION UNDER THE MICROSCOPE<\/p>\n
Former PM Howard said keeping Australian conditions \u201cboth competitive and attractive\u201d would help address the brain drain. <\/p>\n
A staggering 92 per cent said Australia isn\u2019t ambitious enough about its economic and technological future.<\/p>\n
Reader \u201cAI pal\u201d said: \u201cMaybe do something about our universities \u2026 they seem more interested in overseas students than proper education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Jonathon, an expat, said a 30 per cent pay cut and housing five times the price made returning home \u201cdaunting\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Back Australia series is supported by Harvey Norman, Ampol, Bunnings, Qantas, AAMI, Journey Beyond, Gippsland Critical Minerals and News24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australians are overwhelmingly opposed to foreign fruit imports, calling for the government to block applications, a new survey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[377782,509269,514378,514373,514363,58447,427300,386894,463846,514377,18167,25908,162642,514390,514383,514375,13254,64,27621,63,55685,19534,13744,9461,506245,202757,64877,20971,32092,514384,514389,8112,514386,199641,484728,514379,514382,14942,506235,3786,514381,90676,385953,191,7688,18466,514367,514365,506227,514385,322,514368,514380,514374,44,399346,514362,514366,425681,444940,460715,6622,286879,112,514369,388974,3861,514370,514372,1294,22410,514371,514364,512758,514376,313300,120559,23023,378945,514388,188490,514387,377589,378310,514361,397700],"class_list":["post-946991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-ambition","tag-s-back-australia-campaign","tag-s-contempt","tag-s-farmers","tag-593-respondents","tag-58447","tag-427300","tag-a-30","tag-a-new-survey","tag-a-staggering-92","tag-aami","tag-action","tag-ampol","tag-an-expat","tag-an-overwhelming-show","tag-another-example","tag-applications","tag-au","tag-aussies","tag-australia","tag-australian-businesses","tag-australian-conditions","tag-australian-farmers","tag-australians","tag-back-australia-year-2","tag-barry","tag-bunnings","tag-call","tag-cent","tag-cent-pay-cut-and","tag-crop-diseases","tag-disease","tag-farm_fruitmark","tag-fears","tag-five-times","tag-foreign-bananas","tag-foreign-fruit-imports","tag-fruit","tag-gippsland-critical-minerals","tag-government","tag-greater-national-ambition","tag-harvey-norman","tag-have-your-say","tag-home","tag-housing","tag-imports","tag-its-economic-and-technological-future-ambitiousreader-ai-pal","tag-jonathon","tag-journey-beyond","tag-kiwifruit-and-pineapples-spiked-queensland-banana-grower-paul-inderbitzin","tag-local","tag-nearly-all-aussies","tag-new-applications","tag-new-poll","tag-news","tag-news24","tag-not-much-gain","tag-our-farmers","tag-our-industry","tag-our-universities","tag-overseas-students","tag-part","tag-playaday","tag-poll","tag-proper-education","tag-public-support","tag-qantas","tag-reader-nancy","tag-return-home","tag-risk","tag-support","tag-support-australia","tag-the-extreme-risk","tag-the-back-australia-series","tag-the-brain-drain","tag-the-country","tag-the-federal-government","tag-the-government","tag-the-majority","tag-the-microscopeformer-pm-howard","tag-the-nation","tag-the-news-corp-australia-readers","tag-the-price","tag-the-results","tag-their-crops","tag-this-masthead"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}