Foot and mouth disease: Opposition warns outbreak could be ‘death knell’ for WA livestock industry

The arrival of foot and mouth disease in WA would be “almost the death knell” for the State’s livestock industry, according to Shadow Agriculture Minister Colin de Grussa – who has called for biosecurity officers to be stationed at Indonesian airports to ensure returning travellers were taking the necessary precautions. While joining Premier Mark McGowan in talking down the need for of an Indonesian travel ban, Mr de Grussa insisted more needed to be done to safeguard WA’s cattle, pig and sheep operations. Foot and mouth disease has now been detected in Bali, which is visited by around 1.5 million Australians every year – the majority of them from WA. With the potentially devastating virus on the country’s doorstep, Mr de Grussa said the McGowan Government was not “doing enough at all” to prevent an incursion. “Clearly the most important thing is prevention,” he said. “We don’t want foot and mouth disease to land in Australia and the best way to do that is to prevent it leaving Indonesia. “So that means we need resources on the ground in Indonesia. I know the federal government has put some money into helping Indonesia, I think Western Australia should be assisting in that as well. “We should be making sure that all travellers, when they’re leaving, understand the risks associated with bringing the disease back and are prepared to disinfect shoes and clothing and so on. “We should be making sure that people’s luggage and so on is checked properly and thoroughly and that everyone is well aware of the risks of bringing the disease back.” Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt last week announced a $14 million funding injection to beef up preventative efforts, including $9m to dispatch 18 new biosecurity officers to airports and mail centres. The remaining $5 million is being spent on helping Indonesia vaccinate its livestock herds against foot and mouth disease, with the virus already detected in well over 360,000 animals. WA’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development hosted a forum in Mount Barker on Tuesday to inform registered livestock owners of the steps being taken to prepare for a potential outbreak – which include animal lockdowns, contact tracing and herd disposal. In addition, Premier Mark McGowan said $15 million had been budgeted to employ new biosecurity officers to bolster the detection of the disease to provide early warning. “We’re doing what we can,” he said. “Closing down contact with Indonesia for years on end, our nearest neighbour, is not really something we can do… it’s not feasible.” The Premier also accused the Opposition of “scaremongering” and “over the top” commentary. But Mr de Grussa said it was unacceptable to play down the risk of foot and mouth disease, which forced the slaughter of six million pigs, sheep and cattle in wake of an outbreak in the UK in 2001. “Everybody remembers the harrowing pictures of piles and piles of those animals having to be burned and panic right across the UK,” he said. “It would be a huge task to recover from that. If you think about the value of those animals… you’ve spent years breeding animals to get them to the standard or quality you want. “To buy back into that would be virtually impossible. It would be almost the death knell I think for the livestock industry in Western Australia.”