Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I'd like to comment on the foot-and-mouth outbreak in Indonesia and just how scary that could have been. I want to share my thoughts with the Senate because I've just returned from Indonesia and our committee is going up to Indonesia in a couple of months to talk about the scariness of lumpy skin disease and foot-and-mouth even more.

I'd like to let fellow Senators know that it was in May last year, I think, when the outbreak in Indonesia was first reported. I think the first case came out in about April. Since then, colleagues, I'm pleased to say that, since that first reported outbreak in May 2022, the disease has been detected in 27 of Indonesia's 37 provinces. Well, I'm not pleased to say that; that's quite alarming. But, as of 11 am on 9 February, the Indonesian government has reported a total of no less than 599,822 foot-and-mouth cases in Indonesia alone. So Indonesia is reporting that 11,849,455 doses of foot-and-mouth disease vaccine have been used, and it's great to say that Australia has been a significant contributor to that. I'm glad to hear that infections are predominantly in the western islands of Sumatra and Java. The highest number of infections have been reported in the provinces of East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, West Java and Central Java.

Australia has strong existing requirements in place for foot-and-mouth disease preparedness, and we have been on our toes with this for many, many years because we do know the damage that this could do to our $80 billion beef and meat industry. Since the outbreak in Indonesia, we've strengthened our response at the borders, enhanced our collaboration with states and territories and provided support to Indonesia. The Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee has been investigating this as well, when a reference was put through the chamber here. All members of the committee were very keen to roll our sleeves up, get together and start working on this to see just how vulnerable we could be and ask what things we needed to be absolutely clear on and what issues have to be taken to task to make sure that this dreaded disease does not get into our country. It's no secret here that once it's in we can't stop it. That's before we start talking about feral pig numbers and all sorts of things out there like camels—we have no idea.

The Australian government has recently committed to long-term sustainable funding for biosecurity through new investments worth $134 million, which will bolster Australia's strongest ever response to this terrible threat. Following the first reports of lumpy skin disease and foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia, border control measures were immediately enhanced and all risk pathways were reviewed. I know there was a lot of scaremongering out there. I have to say that it is great to be part of a government that moved quickly. Minister Watt was in very close consultation with the industry. He led the charge. They worked hand in hand. I can't find an agriculture or biosecurity representative body which hasn't had anything but good to say about Minister Watt's magnificent response and about the department and this government working closely to make sure that we do everything we can to mitigate any outbreak in this nation.

After the official confirmation from Indonesian authorities that foot-and-mouth disease had spread to Bali in July last year, the department implemented additional measures to further strengthen the border and protect Australia from foot-and-mouth disease. This is due, as we all know, to the high number of people who travel between Bali and Australia. I think the latest count was some 30,000 a week. It's great to see Bali back open for business and it's great to see Australians pouring into our favourite island. As a Western Aussie, I'm a real Bali tragic. I was so rapt that this year, after a three-year hiatus, I was able to get back to Bali.

If I may digress, it was just fantastic to see the joy on the Balinese people's faces now that tourism has returned to that island, to the island of the Gods. It's not at the point that it's going to save a lot of families. Those who regularly travel to Bali know only too well the terrible impact that the pandemic has had on those beautiful people. Unlike here in Australia, there is no free health care. It sickens me when I hear Australians whinge about our health system and refer to our health system as a Third World health system. They need to get off their backsides and see what's happening just over the other side of the Arafura Sea.

We are back with our Balinese friends again. They are so grateful to see Aussies back again. They are so grateful to have the opportunity—and I was talking to some people the other day—to get their $3-a-day wage. When I see Aussies trying to barter down Balinese for a lousy singlet, it makes me feel even more embarrassed. Anyway, I digressed.

It is so important that we work closely with our Balinese friends and all our Indonesian friends. Biosecurity response zones were established at all first point of entry for vessels and at all international airports that receive direct flights from Indonesia. The response zones enable additional powers to be exercised by biosecurity officers at the border, including the ability to direct arriving travellers to walk over sanitation foot mats. These mats are deployed for all arrivals of aircraft and cruise vessels from Indonesia. Since July 2022 over 800,000 arriving travellers have walked over them. I and my mates walked over them the other night, and it's no big deal. It's something as simple as a saturation mat. It doesn't even get the top of your thongs wet, which is an even bigger plus. These sanitation footbaths are also in use for commercial vessels arriving from Indonesia when crew disembark at Australian ports. I congratulate the minister and his department. They've got that covered brilliantly as well.

Biosecurity officers are boarding all aircraft arriving from Indonesia to make an announcement about the foot-and-mouth disease risk and remind travellers of their obligations to declare any risky goods they are carrying, including soiled footwear, when entering Australia. That's not just a reading point; it's what I actually witnessed when I arrived back in Australia on Friday night. It was great to see.

Intervention at international airports has increased. Those who have had the pleasure of sitting through Senate rural, regional affairs and transport estimates have heard me bleat about this. A lot of us sit there on a Sunday night and watch BorderSecurity. We all sit with our fist in our mouth thinking: 'How the hell do they get away with this? How the hell can people come into this country and not declare stuff?' They hide food in their pockets and they wrap food in their clothes in their suitcases. There are paltry fines. I'm very pleased to say—and this came out of Senate estimates in the last round, and we'll be going into Senate estimates again on Tuesday or Monday—that that's all old footage, thank goodness. Soon Channel 7 will get the new footage out and start showing that you don't get a slap on the wrist when you try to import 17 kilograms of raw pork into this nation, like we've seen on telly. A young Spanish fellow—and I'm not sure which airport it was; it could have been Perth for all I know—tried to sneak stuff into the country a couple of weeks ago. He thought he was clever in not declaring some things he had in his suitcase, including raw pork. He said it was prosciutto, they tell me. I'm happy to say that, not only did he get turned around and sent straight back out, but he copped a $3,300 fine.

I'm happy to say I can't wait to see the new series of Border Security on Channel Seven, because then I don't have to put up with my mates at the golf club calling me everything under the sun for letting these people sneak in with all this food and whatnot. I've even seen buffalo penises dried out for food, I kid you not. So that's a bright note!

But seriously, the threat to this nation and our great meat industry, is very serious. It's not very often that I congratulate governments—I'm well known for that—but we've moved so quickly. Minister Watt, you've done a magnificent job, and it gives me a lift under my wings when I sit with representatives from biosecurity and the agricultural and horticultural industries here in Australia, who sing as one how fantastic it's been to be able to sit down, work with government, get serious and not play stupid, petty politics that you would expect at a university fight club or drink club—or whatever they do at university; I don't know—on a Friday night. Well done, Minister Watt. Well done, Australia. It's great to work together with the industry.

In saying that, as I said before very clearly, we must do whatever we can not only to keep this disease out of Australia but also to support our very dear friends in Indonesia, who I can tell you now really do value the support that comes from Australia.