$14m biosecurity blitz to fight disease danger to Australian livestock industry
More biosecurity officers and detector dogs will be deployed at Australian airports to prevent foot and mouth potentially delivering an $80bn hit to the livestock industry.
More biosecurity officers and detector dogs will be deployed at Australian airports to prevent foot and mouth and lumpy skin disease entering the country and potentially delivering an $80bn hit to the livestock industry.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt announced the deployment as part of a $14m package to ward off the diseases, which have reached Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
Speaking at Sydney Airport after returning from his ministerial mission to Jakarta to combat the disease, Senator Watt said funding would provide 18 additional biosecurity officers at Australia airports and more detector dogs to ensure all arrivals from Indonesia are risk-profiled.
Senator Watt announced $5m of the funding would be given to Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to expand local biosecurity measures.
Experts fear lumpy skin disease could be more likely to make its way into Australia from Indonesia than foot and mouth because it can be carried by biting insects such as mosquitoes and could quickly spread across the Indonesian archipelago into Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait and northern Australia.
Lumpy skin disease has spread rapidly through Asia over the past three years and was detected on the Indonesian island of Sumatra in March.
The virus can cause significant production losses in beef and dairy cattle and spreads easily through herds and wild water buffalo.
International animal health expert Phoebe Readford, from the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, said LSD’s transmission method made it difficult to contain.
“The best estimates that have been made tend to show that lumpy skin disease is possibly a higher risk in the next five years,” Dr Readford said.
She said while it was good to be cautious about the threat of FMD and LSD, there was no reason to panic and work was being done by governments and industry groups in Australia and abroad to deal with the diseases.
Michael Guerin, chief executive officer of Queensland farm lobby group AgForce, said LSD could have the same devastating effect on the beef and dairy industries as FMD.
“We, as an island nation, have traded for a long time on the disease-free status as a premium market to our north,” he said. “That’s over an above the challenge of managing the disease itself.” Senator Watt said the highest-risk way of foot and mouth disease coming into the country was through animal products, meat products and dairy products.
Senator Watt said the government was not considering closing its border to Indonesia or limiting income travellers, arguing strict restrictions could have a damaging impact on Australia’s trade relationships as well as tourism in the region.
“We need the travelling public to take this seriously,” Senator Watt said. “If foot and mouth disease gets into our country, it will be a devastating blow for our agriculture industry, particularly our livestock industry.“
Nationals leader and opposition agriculture spokesman David Littleproud urged the government to increase its spending to protect the farming industry and called for increased measures including disinfectant foot baths at airports and traceability grant funding.
“The Nationals have been calling for over a week for increased spending from the over $1.1bn invested by the Coalition in biosecurity but this announcement does not look to accelerate traceability programs,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Labor has been indecisive on tackling FMD, which would cost Australia nearly as much as JobKeeper.
“They have taken too long to reach out to Indonesia, too long to bring forward biosecurity spending and still cannot make their mind up on foot baths and mats.”
More Coverage
Youth mental health a worry for families
Concerned about a young loved one’s mental health? You’re not alone, and starting a conversation about it with them is challenging. Here’s some advice on what do.
Restaurateur charged over Nazi sign at protest
High-profile restaurateur Alan Yazbek has been revealed as the protester arrested after allegedly holding up a swastika sign at a pro-Palestine rally.