Foot-and-mouth disease Qld: Airports roll out decontamination mats

All passengers arriving in Queensland from Indonesia will be required to undergo a new safeguard as soon as Tuesday.

Travellers entering Queensland’s international airports from Indonesia will be made to step through citric-acid foot mats as early as today in an attempt to prevent the incursion of foot-and-mouth disease.

Nearly half of Australia’s 23.5m cattle herd is in Queensland, with the state to be hit the hardest in a widespread outbreak of the industry-destroying livestock disease.

But industry leaders have warned FMD is not the sole threat, with the cruel vector-borne lumpy skin disease also at risk of crossing into Australia’s shores – particularly from the north.

The federal government confirmed citric-acid foot mats – designed to dislodge FMD particles from the shoes of travellers – had arrived at Cairns and Brisbane Airports on Monday and would be operational in the north on Tuesday afternoon and the capital on Wednesday at the latest.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt defended the government’s response to FMD, saying biosecurity officers at international airports had reported “improved compliance” from returning passengers from Indonesia.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and his deputy David Littleproud have continued to call for the government to shut the border with Indonesia, despite industry leaders – including AgForce Queensland – advocating against the economic and relationship-damaging move.

Senator Watt said the “greater risk” of FMD getting into Australia was via incorrectly or illegally labelled meat products from overseas.

“We have now increased our surveillance of mail from Indonesia and China so that every parcel is screened and so we can identify any potential biosecurity risks,” he said.

AgForce Queensland chief executive Mike Guerrin said the group was concerned about ongoing reports of travellers not being subject to rigorous checks on arrival, but was otherwise “happy” at the multilayered approached to stave off FMD.

It was a sentiment shared by Cattle Council of Australia president Lloyd Hick, who said the risk level would likely move to inspections of every bit of luggage arriving from Indonesia at some stage.

But industry leaders said the “hype” around FMD had brushed the larger threat of Lumpy Skin Disease aside. LSD is spread through insects such as mosquitoes, and over more than a decade has spread from Africa to Indonesia.

Mr Hick said the disease, if it got to Australia, would “be very hard for the industry to get a hold of” – leading to “severe” economic losses.

Mr Guerrin said LSD was “less than 100km from Australia’s northern border” and could “quite conceivably blow across in the wind” during the monsoon season when winds into the north were strong.