Key role Qld will play in protecting $70 billion industry

Queensland will play an integral role in fighting off any future incursion of foot and mouth disease or other threats to the $70 billion agriculture industry.

Queensland will play an integral role in fighting off any future incursion of foot and mouth disease or other threats to the $70 billion agriculture industry, with the nation’s next generation of biosecurity sniffer dogs to be trained in the state.

Yaks cheese, 500g of turtle meat, and kilograms of betel fruit and unprocessed honey are among the potential threats picked up by the highly-trained animals at Queensland’s ports and airports recently.

Australia’s next 20 biosecurity detector dogs will be trained in Queensland. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

The Courier-Mail revealed in 2019 that the number of biosecurity sniffer dogs in the state had halved from 12 to six, despite the imminent threat of African swine fever at the time.

Three years on the number remains barely changed, with just seven dogs in service after an additional one was based permanently in Cairns.

But money set aside in the budget will see an additional 20 dogs trained to be used as needed across the country.

Apple, seeds and hand-pressed flowers found by biosecurity sniffer dogs in Queensland. Picture: Supplied, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said all of the dogs would be trained in Brisbane, before being deployed as needed.

“Since being elected, the Albanese Government has targeted detector dogs to areas of highest risk, to respond to the heightened threat of foot and mouth disease,” he said.

“As a first step, we moved dogs into northern airports like Cairns and Darwin.

“We’ve now backed that up in the October Budget, by funding 20 new detector dogs and handlers.”

Figures obtained by The Courier-Mail reveal the number of biosecurity detector dogs has reduced from 12 in 2012 to six by 2019, and nationally from 80 to 34.

There are now 43 detector dogs nationally, soon to increase to 63, though still remaining short of the previous high of 80.

The dogs will be brought on board over the next two years.

A Cairns based dog named Lido recently found 500g of turtle meat and a live gecko. Brisbane-based dogs found fresh betel nuts and freshly cut betel leaves in a Fijian passenger’s backpack. A Nepalese passenger was fined $1332 when caught with yak cheese, 1kg of fresh betel fruit and 1.1kg of unprocessed honey, while a passenger returning from Brazil was slugged $2664 when a detector dog found home cooked meat and rice in their cabin baggage.

There was $11.7 million over four years in the budget from 2022-23, as well as $3.3 million a year ongoing, for the additional detector dog capability at airports, ports and mail centres.