New Zealand has the slowest and most expensive plant import pathway in the world, and reform is long overdue, says Paul Paynter, General Manager of the Yummy Fruit Company.

Following a meeting with Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard, Paynter says the system needs a radical overhaul rather than just tinkering.

“Someone needs to kick the door down,” he says.

The pear industry has had no import health standard for 26 years.

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