John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion for this parliament to join the rest of the world in recognising the important contribution and achievements of veterinarians for the community by designating 2011 the World Veterinary Year. By passing this motion in the House today and in the Senate on Wednesday we will join parliaments around the world in celebrating the establishment of the first modern veterinary school in Lyon, France, in 1761—250 years ago.

In Australia we are proud to be celebrating the 120th anniversary of the first graduating class of veterinarians at the Melbourne Veterinary College. This was no small achievement for a country that was not discovered by the British until 1770 and did not see the arrival of the first convicts into Sydney until eight years after that.

Most Australians would be familiar with visits to the vet for family pets, big or small. They would be less familiar with the contribution by veterinarians to animal health and production, public health, animal welfare, food safety and biosecurity. It is these diverse and varied roles that they play in our community that I would like to pay tribute to today.

Australia’s economy has often been described in the past as riding on the sheep’s back. While we may not be solely dependent on sheep today, we remain an agricultural nation with an enviable reputation for being free from exotic disease, and much of this has been due to the pioneering work of our veterinarians. Since the early days they have played a leading role in the eradication of animal diseases, beginning with sheep scab , which arrived on the First Fleet. This mite damaged the fleece by causing the sheep intense irritation by producing moist yellow scabs. For the 19th century it devastated sheep farms and the wider public dependent on the income from wool production. It was estimated in 1865 that the annual financial loss to the colony was over half a million pounds, equivalent to $75 million today. In 1896 the eradication of the mite through the development of mass treatment of flocks was a significant turning point in Australian responses to disease. More significantly, however, it had marked the enactment of the first piece of legislation in New South Wales, in 1832, that gave officers the power to control animal disease. With officers able to detain, seize and destroy infected sheep, the disease was swiftly eradicated in 1896 and has never recurred.

This was the very beginning of Australia’s quarantine inspection service, which evolved into its current form with the drawing together of the human, animal and plant quarantine functions in the department of health in 1926, following the outbreak of rinderpest, or cattle plague, which has also been eradicated. These have not been its only successes. It succeeded in excluding: foot and mouth disease in 1801 and 1804 in New South Wales, in 1871 and 1872 in Victoria, and has not occurred here since; contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, introduced in 1858, with the last case in 1967 and freedom declared in 1973—one of the first countries to achieve this; bovine tuberculosis and tuberculosis in the 1990s; newcastle disease of poultry in 1930, 1932 and again in the 1990s; classical swine fever, 1903, 1927-28, 1912-13; and equine influenza in 2007.

With regard to health, it is reported in the UK and the US that over 50 per cent of human infectious diseases originate in animals and about three-quarters of emerging diseases are transferable from animal to man. Given such a high risk to human health, the contributions of the vets to science and research are obviously enormously important. Deadly zoonotic diseases continued to threaten in Australia and overseas. Hendra virus here, BSE in the UK, SARS in China, nipah in Malaysia and swine flu in Mexico have proved fatal to humans. We face threats from our regional neighbours with rabies in Bali and swine fever in Indonesia. Other diseases, such as Rift Valley fever and West Nile virus have spread across the Middle East and the USA respectively, with serious effects on human and animal populations.

Ensuring that we maintain the integrity of our biosecurity is important through promoting the importance of ‘One Health’. We must encourage more cooperation between human and animal health on the front line fighting disease by funding the work of veterinary scientists within agencies including Animal Health Australia, CSIRO and private agribusiness. This is in addition to building on the advancements through international partnerships fostered and delivered by the now defunded Australian Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre. We only have to look to the deaths of the two vets who died tending to horses infected with the Hendra virus from bats to recognise that veterinarians face real risks from the increasing prevalence of animal-to-human transmitted diseases.

Maintaining our unenviable international reputation as free from exotic disease is not without benefit to our economic wellbeing as we trade to overseas markets. We depend upon veterinary officers to monitor our borders and livestock for disease such as foot and mouth disease. Surveillance is critical if we are to ensure we take all possible measures to keep out diseases and pests that could harm our valuable agriculture and horticulture industries.

Veterinarians also play an important role in supporting the racing industry. You only have to imagine the impact of a Melbourne Cup day or spring racing carnival with well cared for and healthy horses that are tended by these professionals. Veterinarians as practitioners handle all species of farm animals, wildlife, aquatic animals, laboratory animals and companion animals in work, sport and recreation. It is the bond with animals that makes it natural that they would be out champions for animal welfare. Through the work of veterinarians I am proud to say that Australia leads the world with the development of the Australian Animal welfare strategy and implementation plans to protect animals. This strategy that has been taken up around the world and adopted by the OIE.

This motion gives us the opportunity not only to recognise the breadth of the contribution of vets to our community but to pay tribute to the achievement of individual vets, both past and living. Three have been acknowledged in this motion: Nobel Peace Prize winner and Australian of the Year Dr Peter Doherty, whose research has helped in our understanding of how human bodies fight disease and of the disease meningitis; Professor Mary Barton, a leading veterinarian bacteriologist who has made an extraordinary contribution to veterinary public health; and Dr Reg Pascoe, for his lifetime contribution to promoting veterinary science and excellence. But there are so many more, and we pay tribute to these women and men for all they have done to advance our nation and for their service to the community.

It is a great achievement for Australia to be celebrating its 120th anniversary of veterinary education on the 250th anniversary of the first veterinary school in the world. We have come so far. This motion, I hope, will open the eyes of our young people to understand the aspirations of those who came before and the opportunities for veterinary professionals in the future. It is a great honour for me to present this motion to recognise the important role that veterinary science has played in our history and the vital role of veterinarians in a prosperous and sustainable future. I ask that the House support this motion.

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