Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Ciccone. I know that agriculture in general and particularly this outbreak are of great concern to you. So I appreciate you asking a question asking for the facts of the situation. The Albanese government is taking the threat of foot-and-mouth disease very seriously. That is why we have introduced the toughest biosecurity measures that have ever been introduced in Australia, based on expert biosecurity advice. I am pleased to say that, as a result of these measures, Australia remains foot-and-mouth disease free. You might not know that based on what you are hearing from the opposition, but we remain foot-and-mouth disease free. And long may it stay that way because an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Australia would have a devastating impact on our economy and on the livelihoods of thousands of Australians.

In direct response to the spread of foot-and-mouth disease to Indonesia and in particular to Bali, we have strengthened biosecurity measures beyond those that were in place under the former government to protect Australia from a foot-and-mouth disease incursion. These include, for the first time ever, wide-scale deployment of sanitation foot mats in every international airport in Australia and, for the first time ever, the declaration of biosecurity response zones in all Australian international airports. These things have never been done by any Australian government, despite the fact that we currently have 70 foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks around the world. There are so many measures that I don't have time to go through them, but that is just a start on the types of things that we are doing in addition to risk-profiling 100 per cent of passengers returning from Indonesia and screening all mail and freight items coming from Indonesia and China.

So it's no surprise that those measures have been backed in so strongly by the livestock industry. For instance, Jason Strong, from Meat and Livestock Australia, says the federal government's response to date has been 'very coordinated and collaborative'. Patrick Hutchinson, from the Australian Meat Industry Council, has said 'AMIC is very supportive of the Australian government's measured response.' Fiona Simson, from the NFF, has said the same thing. There are innumerable comments from industry. (Time expired)