Tony Burke, Minister of Federal Agriculture has announced that the government will not intervene with the China apple imports, dowsing hopes of the local apple industry.

''If there is a way of stopping them I have not yet been able to find it,'' Mr Burke said in a Sydney radio interview.

''So far, on this one, I haven't been able to find something that would prevent it on human health grounds, or prevent it on biosecurity grounds.''

Biosecurity Australia disclosed yesterday that Dr Conall O'Connell, director of animal and plant quarantine of Federal Department of Agriculture, had given consent to the apple imports from China, subject to a scope of quarantine regulations.

Mr. Burke also said there had never been a problem with chemical residues or diseases on the pears coming from China since 1999 and the scientific investigations conducted had discovered that the drosophila suzukii (drosophila fly), the much dreaded new pest, is not capable of piercing the skin of apples.

''So that one, which looks like it might have been an answer that would have resulted in the director of biosecurity to be stopping the apples from coming in, that one hasn't led us anywhere,'' he remarked.

Mr. Burke added that Australia would be the eventual loser if it blocked the China apples due to non-scientific reasons, because majority of Australia's farm products, about 60 per cent, is exported.