Foot and mouth disease could be ‘as catastrophic as the Covid lockdowns’ on cattle industry

Cattle prices that have already dropped by 20 per cent could plunge further if foot and mouth disease gets into Australia, with claims the government has been “flat footed” in its response to the outbreak on our doorstep.

Cattle prices have already dropped 20 per cent but if foot and mouth disease gets into Australia the impact will be “as catastrophic as the Covid lockdowns” on the industry, a Senate inquiry will hear.

A Senate committee inquiry looking into the Federal Government’s response to the disease outbreak on Australia’s doorstep, chaired by LNP Senator Matt Canavan, will grill top bureaucrats at its first meeting on Wednesday.

Senator Canavan said he would investigate allegations the government was “flat footed” in its response as well as anecdotes some people returning from Indonesia where an outbreak was spreading were not being screened in early days.

LNP Senator Matt Canavan is chairing the Rural and Regional Affairs Senate committee. Picture: Duncan Evans

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt blamed the previous government saying it was responsible for “cracks in the biosecurity wall”.

The Eastern States Young Cattle Indicator shows cattle prices plummeted from a high of $11.30/kg on June 1 to $8.85/kg on July 27 as the outbreak in Indonesia worsened.

It has recovered slightly to $9.20/kg in the past week.

Senator Canavan said the senate rural and regional affairs committee would look into claims of a slow rollout of foot mats and that some arrivals from Indonesia were not being properly screened.

“There’s been a lot of announcements about foot and mouth disease, we want to make sure that this is actually happening,” he said.

“We have to maintain super vigilance here. It’s much better to be safer than sorry.

“An outbreak would be catastrophic. For the cattle industry it would be as catastrophic as the Covid lockdowns of a few years ago were.”

Senator Watt on Tuesday announced an additional $10 million in biosecurity funding to Indonesia to provide more vaccines and technical support.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

He said “short-term thinking” of the previous government and a failure to fully implement inspector-general recommendations had weakened the Australia’s biosecurity.

“All of these things created cracks in our biosecurity wall. And now it’s my job to repair that wall and make it even stronger,” Senator Watt said.

“The wall is still strong. And in fact, it’s one of the best in the world and we should be very proud about that.”

Foot and mouth disease is highly contagious, affects cloven-hoofed animals and can be carried by people on their shoes, clothes and even noses and is predicted to cause $80 billion damage to the economy if it gets into the country.