Welcome to the latest edition of the Prevent Fruit Fly newsletter.

A new year brings a new face to the National Fruit Fly Council (NFFC) management. In February, the NFFC’s Manager, Stuart Burgess retired from PHA after a long career advocating for the horticulture sector. The NFFC would like to thank Stuart again for his tireless efforts within the council and Australian horticulture more broadly. We wish Stuart all the best “pruning roses and chatting to paddy melons” in northern Tasmania.

With Stuart’s departure, I’d like to introduce myself as the new manager of the NFFC. My name is Steve Quarrell. I’m an entomologist with a background in pest management and crop pollination research. I joined PHA in mid-2024 as the Biosecurity Planning Manager. In this role my focus has been on improving the biosecurity preparedness of our plant industries through the development of various biosecurity focused industry resources including Biosecurity Plans, exotic pest management reviews and extension resources.

My new role as manager of the council brings a steep learning curve. The challenge is amplified given the importance of 2026 as the final year of Phase 4 of the NFFC. The primary focus of the NFFC this year will be the development of a new National Fruit Fly Strategy (NFFS). The new NFFS will be informed by an economic analysis being conducted by the Centre of International Economics (CIE). The analysis will examine the impact that fruit flies have on Australian horticulture and conduct a cost-benefit analysis of potential Research, Development & Extension (RD&E) solutions.

It is intended that the new NFFS will guide future fruit fly investment thereby safeguarding Australia’s horticultural sector through improvements in fruit fly management on-farm, biosecurity and market access. The NFFS will also support improvements in phytosanitary and regulatory processes to help expand international market access of Australia’s high quality horticultural produce. An update on the economic analysis project can be found in this newsletter.

Steve Quarrell

Manager, National Fruit Fly Council