Foot and Mouth Disease: Senator’s offer to wash shoes of Aussies from Bali

A senator has made a bizarre offer after a devastating virus was detected in supermarket products and at the Australian border.

A senator has offered to personally wash the shoes and feet of Aussies returning from Bali amid warnings a highly infectious disease could make its way to Australia.

While Australia remains free of foot and mouth disease, which affects livestock, the government has been called on to do more after the virus was detected in tourist hotspot Bali.

If a single case were to make its way into Australia it could cost the industry $80bn.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt on Wednesday announced further biosecurity measures after viral fragments of the disease and African swine fever were detected in pork products at a Melbourne retailer.

An outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Bali has Australia on edge. Picture: Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP

But former agriculture minister Bridget McKenzie has argued more could be done and has offered to personally wash people’s shoes at the border.

“I am very, very happy – if Murray Watt can’t find the foot baths for Sydney and Melbourne airport – to actually get the thousands of people that are coming back from Bali who are being waved through biosecurity washed down … I’m very happy to offer my time on a weekend to handwash those shoes,” she told Sky News.

“I’m sure there will be an army of people … right across rural and regional Australia who will join me.”

Mats charged with citric acid solution designed to dislodge dirt from the soles of shoes and cover them in the acid were installed at Darwin and Cairns airports this week.

But Barnaby Joyce and opposition home affairs spokeswoman Karen Andrews said the escalated measures weren’t enough and called for a temporary border ban.

“Foot and mouth disease coming into Australia would be an absolute disaster … This is a race and Labor is barely out of the starting blocks,” Ms Andrews told Sky News.

“If this means that they have to slam that border shut to Indonesia, to Bali, they need to be taking serious action and doing so.”

The measure has the support of Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie and South Australian independent MP Rebekha Sharkie.

Some pork products have been removed from supermarket shelves after viral fragments of both foot and mouth disease and African swine fever were detected during testing. Picture: Supplied

But just hours after his colleagues made the call to slam the border shut, Nationals leader David Littleproud advised against it, for now.

Instead, he said the government, which he claimed had overseen a “biosecurity scandal”, should consider a “trigger point” as to when to shut the border temporarily.

“We don’t believe they should be taking this off the table yet,” Mr Littleproud said.

“It should be predicated on science. We need to have calm. That there is anxiety and fear in the community calling for this is a direct result of the inaction of this government.

“They need to be clear about the trigger point as to what that is, that we would need to close those borders temporarily.”

Meanwhile, National Farmers Federation boss Tony Mahar also advised against shutting the border in favour of strengthening biosecurity measures.

“Shutting the border is extremely drastic and would have serious unintended consequences,” he told Sky News.

Speaking later on Sky News, the Agriculture Minister said a temporary border ban was not required at this stage.

“A lot of people aren’t aware … that there are, right now, outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in a range of other countries, whether that be China, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, South Africa,” he said.

“Those countries have had foot and mouth disease for years.”

Senator Watt met with his state and territory counterparts on Wednesday to discuss further biosecurity measures.

There are no plans to shut the border at this stage. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

He labelled the Opposition’s calls to shut the border “disappointing” given they never once did so while in government.

“While they were in government we saw outbreaks across a range of those other countries. We never saw them bring in border closures … we never saw them roll out foot mats into our airports ” Senator Watt added.

“I can put my hand on my heart and say to Australians that this is the strongest biosecurity response any Australian government has ever imposed for a biosecurity episode.”

Travellers returning from Bali have been asked to clean their shoes thoroughly, or leave them behind, or declare any visits to farms.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt last week travelled to Indonesia and met with his Indonesian counterpart to announce Australian assistance amid the country's foot and mouth disease outbreak. Picture: Twitter / @MurrayWatt

Chief veterinary officer Mark Shipp said he was “quite confident” authorities could keep the disease from entering the country.

“Many countries in our region have foot and mouth disease, and we’ve been dealing with that for decades,” he told the Nine Network.

“We know that once it entered Indonesia it would get into Bali and spread further, and we ramped up our biosecurity efforts in response to that.”