I am sure that the Aussie beekeepers and officials mean well and are diligent in their efforts.  I'm not suggesting they are careless either. 

But people are imperfect and I see no crisis in our industry that would justify the importation of bees from outside our country. The system was in place since the 1920's to keep bees out and it still did not keep varroa out so why should anyone think that we are going to succeed with this arrangement? 

Furthermore the facts are the Aussie bees have no resistance to Tracheal, Varroa or chalkbrood. 

Many universities and beekeepers are spending inordinate amounts of time and money to develop bees that are resistant (hygenic and VSH) to the various issues our industry faces.  We appear to be on the cusp of disseminating these useful genetics nationwide. We have the Russian bees also that are successful. Why would we want to import more bees that have no resistance? 

In my view the importation of these bees is a slap in the face to the work of Spivak,  Harbo, Rinderer and others.  

Where is the crisis that justifies the risk? 

p.s. I wonder if Australian beekeepers would be excited about importing queens from the big Island Hawaii right now? We can guarantee there are no bees within 100 miles with varroa mites. Trust me......

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