Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is disappointing not to be able to talk about the discredited organisation that is the ABCC. But this gives me an opportunity to talk a little bit more about the incredibly impressive and powerful response that the Australian government, under the leadership of the minister, Senator Watt, have put in place to deal with this outbreak in Indonesia. We are taking this outbreak very seriously. We are managing the risk of foot-and-mouth disease across our shores, and we are doing that with the biggest biosecurity package that has ever been introduced in this country. We are installing sanitation foot mats in international and domestic airports and we're monitoring travellers from high-risk areas. There are thousands of passengers being assessed in Melbourne and in other major cities every day. We are delivering vaccines. As Minister Watt explained, those vaccines are expected to arrive in August. We are increasing screening to monitor undeclared meat products. This is a serious biosecurity issue for Australia. It's one that we are taking seriously, and the response is not helped by those on the opposition benches.