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

Thank you, Senator Polly. I know you have a long history as a supporter of the agriculture industry in Tasmania. It's important to remember that Australia does remain free of foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease. While that remains the case, we must remain vigilant to biosecurity threats at our borders. Our three pronged approach of helping Indonesia deal with their outbreak, strengthening our borders and improving preparedness is vital to ensure we continue to remain free of these potentially devastating diseases.

Last month I created the Exotic Animal Disease Preparedness Taskforce to ensure that Australia is fully prepared should an outbreak occur. That is because good governments plan for the best and prepare for the worst. The task force was co-chaired by senior experts in the department of agriculture and what was then Emergency Management Australia, bringing together the experts in biosecurity and animal health within our government, along with experts in disaster management.

I can confirm the task force has now completed its assessment of Australia's preparedness if an exotic animal disease were to reach Australia. The task force conducted four weeks of rigorous testing of national biosecurity and emergency management plans. They undertook specific scenario exercises to test arrangements already in place to respond to incursions of foot and mouth disease and lumpy disease, including for multiple outbreaks across multiple jurisdictions.

The task force worked closely with state and territory governments, industry and Indigenous communities to ensure a national coordinated view was captured. The task force liaised with our Indonesian counterparts on how they have managed their outbreak, as well as looking at the UK's FMD outbreak in 2001, as well COVID outbreaks and recent natural disasters in Australia to see what lessons could be learned from those events.

The exercises conducted by the task force also stress-tested how Australia's biosecurity plans interact with national emergency management. This way, we know we can organise a rapid response across Commonwealth, state, territory and industry partners. (Time expired)