Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would just like to say that we do need to take very serious action about foot-and-mouth disease in Australia and we also need to take bipartisan action. We've just heard from the member for Barker and others, and I understand that anyone who is living in rural, regional and agricultural Australia has real fears.

There is clear and present danger with foot-and-mouth disease the world over. However, I find it somewhat galling that the opposition are now suddenly full of ideas after nine years of doing very little. There is no plan in place, and it is so frustrating to sit here and have them dish up all of these terrific ideas when, really, some would say they did sweet FA about FMD when they had the chance to do it.

My question to those opposite is, why did the former government not have a plan? They knew this threat was imminent but they sat on their hands. They did not provide the department with additional resources to plan for or prevent this threat. So please—through you, Mr Deputy Speaker—I implore the members of the now opposition not to come in here with all of their ideas. Where were these ideas for the last nine years? If this is such a critical thing, which we know it is, why weren't they working on it before? In fact, those opposite did not implement a single additional measure to address FMD, even as FMD was spreading across Indonesia.

Farmers across Australia are scared for their future, and who could blame them after a decade of neglect by this coalition government? This is why we're staring it down. The gall of a member opposite to stand here and say it took the current government three weeks to roll out citric acid mats at airports, when they had nine years to do something about this. They didn't put a single measure in place. They did not give the department more resources. For 10 years this sector has been served up breadcrumbs, and today they're getting a side of lip service with it from the opposition. Our government will ensure that we seize the opportunities in this sector and make the critical investments needed to protect current and future growth. As a government, we are now doing more for biosecurity with foot-and-mouth disease than has ever been done in Australia's history. We are remaining vigilant. We are doing everything we can.

A moment ago I heard the opposition asking us what we are doing to help Indonesia. This is what we're doing. On top of other measures, we're including one million vaccines to help Indonesia's outbreak, and we have a $14 million biosecurity package to bolster Australia's frontline defence and provide more technical support for countries currently battling FMD and lumpy skin disease. We are working with experts in the field to ensure the most tailored response in preventing the threat from landing on our shores. I implore the opposition: please, please, work with the government on this. I know that rural and regional Australia are terribly worried. Work with us. Don't scaremonger on this important topic—it's not even a topic or an issue; this is really important in terms of our food security.

I want to commend the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foresty for immediately increasing surveillance and testing of meat and other animal products, both at our borders and in Indonesia. Quite frankly, the biggest risk for Australia in terms of foot-and-mouth disease is what we've seen the world over—it's packages. Packages coming from Indonesia are the things that pose the biggest risk to us. It's not people visiting farms and then coming back through airports. Whilst that's important, the biggest risk is packages. I implore everyone: please do not order food online from countries that we know have foot-and-mouth disease, particularly, at the moment, Indonesia. It is problematic. We all need to work together.

I implore the opposition: please don't scaremonger on this; let's work together. You had nine years to get a plan in place, which we could have implemented overnight. There was no plan. You didn't put enough resources into the department. So don't come in now with all the ideas and all the scaremongering and all the rallying of fear, when Australian agriculture needs your support. It needs resources and it needs everyday Australians to do their bit to ensure, if they do travel to Indonesia and other countries with foot-and-mouth disease, they do not bring it home.

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