Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question as to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Watt. Can the minister please give an update to the Senate on the progress of the Exotic Animal Disease Preparedness Taskforce, which was announced last month?

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

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Polley, your first supplementary question.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for that leadership. Can you outline any findings that have been made by the task force, and whether any of the recommendations—

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Polley, have you finished your question?

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I haven't finished my question. Would you like me to start it again?

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Polley, please continue your question from where you stopped.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The leadership demonstrated by the minister has been outstanding. Can you tell us whether or not any of the recommendations from that report will be accepted by the government?

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

Senator Polley, I would love nothing more. I apologise for being so eager to talk about the work of this task force.

Overall, I am pleased to advise that this review has found that our biosecurity system is strong and sound, particularly in prevention and mitigation. There is good reason to expect that Australia will remain free of these diseases well into the future, although, as I have put on the record before, the risk is certainly there. The review also found that some of our biosecurity responses do need to be updated to be current with the times and with the technology we now have. For example, the review suggested that a COAG instrument that hadn't been looked at since 2002 should be updated to better fit our modern times. The review also made suggestions around better crisis-communications capacity, regularly updated national plans, improved data collection and improved collaboration with states and territories. These suggestions are now being implemented. This is why the work of the task force was so important, so that in the unlikely event of an incursion we are well prepared to limit the spread and impact of these foreign diseases. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Polley, a second supplementary question?

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister outline what the next steps are to ensuring Australia is well prepared to respond to any potential major biosecurity outbreak?

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

As part of Australia's strongest response to a biosecurity threat, our three-pronged approach will continue to serve us well as we fight to keep foot-and-mouth disease out of our country, but we must remain vigilant to this threat and continue to improve our responses going forward. This work will now lead into and inform Exercise Paratus, a live boots-on-the-ground foot-and-mouth disease based scenario to be undertaken with states and territories next year.

We are also continuing our support for Indonesia to assist them to control their outbreak. As of last week, I'm pleased to report, 250,000 doses of lumpy skin disease vaccine supplied by Australia had been administered to Indonesian livestock, while Australia's supply of one million foot-and-mouth disease vaccines have been distributed, with 600,000 having been delivered to the island of Bali alone. A further three million vaccines will arrive in the coming weeks, and we've also trained more than 300 local officials with specific focus on technical aspects of vaccine delivery, biosecurity management and record-keeping.