Australia to spend another $14m on preventing deadly livestock virus from spreading

Australia is desperately trying to stop a deadly and highly contagious virus detected in Indonesia from making its way into the country.

Australia will spend an additional $14m on shoring up its defences against a disease that could devastate the agricultural industry.

The federal government will spend the money on biosecurity measures to help address the outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Indonesia amid concerns it could spread to Australia.

A a widespread local outbreak of the highly contagious virus – which affects cloven-hoofed animals including cattle and sheep – could wipe out the country’s livestock and cost the country $80bn over a decade.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said Australia’s borders would remain open to Indonesia for now as he announced the new funding package on Friday.

Speaking outside Sydney airport on his return from talks with officials in Indonesia, he said $5m of the new $14m package would go towards immediate support to the archipelago nation as well as to Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has unveiled $14m in additional funding to address the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Indonesia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

This would go towards strengthening laboratory capacity, diagnostic testing, epidemiological modelling and on-the-ground disease control measures, Senator Watt said.

He said the funding would also help those countries combat an outbreak of lumpy skin disease – which affects cattle – and stop it spreading to Australia.

The federal government will spend $9m on domestic defences, including the employment of 18 additional biosecurity officers at Australian airports and mail centres as well as new detector dogs at Cairns and Darwin airports.

Every passenger who enters the country from Indonesia will now be subject to a strict screening process at Australia’s airports in a bid to prevent FMD from spreading to livestock in Australia. Picture: Perdiansyah/AFP

Senator Watt said there was a “lot of attention” on the travelling public returning from Indonesia, including holiday-makers from the tourist island of Bali.

But Senator Watt again ruled out a travel ban and said the “highest risk” came from imported animal, meat and dairy products.

The federal government will also appoint a northern Australia co-ordinator to manage the urgent implementation of surveillance and preparedness strategies across North Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

The government had already committed to assisting Indonesia with FMD vaccines and to implementing screening processes for passengers and luggage entering the country from Indonesia.

The federal opposition has criticised the Albanese government for being too slow to act to prevent FMD from spreading to Australia after the first case was reported in Indonesia in May.

The virus has spread to 22 of Indonesia’s 37 provinces, with more than 360,000 reported cases affecting mostly cows but also sheep, pigs and buffalo.