Call to Stop all Travel to Bali - Foot and Mouth Disease Threat
The South Burnett Regional Council has called on the federal government to suspend all travel between Australia and known sites of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreaks such as Bali
because of the devastating consequences of a local outbreak.
Cr Scott Henschen warned that an Australian outbreak would decimate the livestock industry and cause $80bn damage in the first 48 hours. “FMD affects all cloven foot animals including cattle, sheep and pigs. There is no cure, no vaccine. The only action you can take is to shoot and burn your livestock. This is the greatest threat to our livestock industry that I have seen in my lifetime.”
“Seventy-one per cent of our economy is based on livestock,” said Mayor Brett Otto. “We need to know everything possible is being done at our borders to prevent the calamity of Foot and Mouth Disease coming in on the sandals of those who have been holidaying in Bali. This is a national emergency.”
“The cost of COVID will be nothing compared to the economic devastation that would result if Australia’s cattle (including dairy), sheep and pig industries are shut down. The ripple effect would extend the damage to large employer food processors such as Swickers here in Kingaroy and to support services such as transport and the farmers who grow fodder crops. Supermarket shelves would be far emptier than missing a few toilet rolls if FMD gets into Australia,” said Mayor Otto.
The South Burnett Regional Council resolved yesterday to facilitate a regional forum of stakeholders and government decisionmakers including state and federal Ministers on the threat posed by the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Bali.
“We need to know what the state and federal governments are doing and what extra the SBRC can do to prepare for a potential outbreak,” said Mayor Brett Otto.
During debate on FMD yesterday, Crs Danita Potter and Jane Erkens warned current returning travellers to not bring their footwear home after visiting Bali.
Council has a Biosecurity Plan in place but is anxious to get the very latest information from authorities to local stakeholders in a timely manner. Cr Kirstie Schumacher said that biosecurity was very important to the South Burnett region and looked forward to working with state and federal Departments of Agriculture to engineer the tightest possible Biosecurity Plan.
Cr Scott Henschen also successfully moved that the Council provide their own program of public warning and education notices across the South Burnett. Cr Kathy Duff included a call for all local governments across Australia to participate in immediate collective action to prevent FMD coming to Australia.
The Council agreed on a motion from Cr Duff to set up an Agricultural Network Meeting through the Burnett Inland Economic Development Organisation (BIEDO) for local based discussions and awareness promotion of FMD.
Deputy Mayor Gavin Jones warned that the fight had to be taken up at a national level to keep our borders secure and prevent Foot and Mouth Disease coming in. “Once it gets to the farm gate, or even the town boundary, it’s too late,” he said.
Further information on Foot and Mouth Disease can be found at https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/biosecurity/animal-biosecurity-welfare/animal-health-pests-diseases/notifiable/foot-and-mouth-disease.
