BAN travel to and from Indonesia, that's the hardline measure needed to prevent foot and mouth disease from taking hold in Australia, according to Adam Marshall.
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The Northern Tablelands MP, and former NSW agriculture minister, has put forward the hardline measure to halt travel between the two countries to preempt the destructive disease from reaching our shores.
Mr Marshall warned there must be strong biosecurity measures in place considering how devastating the entry of the disease would be.
"All travel to and from Indonesia should be temporarily suspended until the entire country is FMD [foot and mouth disease] free," he said.
While such a response might seem alarmist, Mr Marshall said if the disease was detected in Australia then all stock movements would come to a standstill within four hours.
He said the hardline approach must be considered because of the costs foot and mouth would have, especially locally.
"The cattle industry here in the Northern Tablelands is conservatively worth around $1 billion a year to our local economy," he said.
"You cannot replace what we have here and FMD, once in, would be absolutely devastating and send our producers, still recovering from drought, to the wall."
Opened international borders, with hoards of Australians travelling to Bali over the winter, has only increased the risk of the disease entering the region, he warned.
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Mr Marshall said this should be factored into considerations of what the appropriate response would be.
"With thousands of Australians travelling to Bali and other parts of Indonesia over winter, additional safeguards must urgently be put in place," he said.
The proposed travel ban has been backed by members of the region's cattle industry, who see a halting of tourism as preferable to a standstill of their industry.
President of the Gunnedah Stock and Station Agents Association Stephen Carpenter, based in north east NSW, said "it's great that Adam's making people aware of it".
However, he also pointed to the fact people have been travelling to Australia from countries like Malaysia with foot and mouth disease for years.
He said what's really set alarm bells ringing is how close it is to Australia, and that proximity has definitely introduced a new level of risk to the cattle industry.
Bali is the closest the disease has been to Australia at any time since 1986.
"I lived up in Darwin for a while, and it's two hours away," he said.
While Mr Marshall's suggestion could bring back much maligned travel restrictions to a popular holidaying destination for Australians, Mr Carpenter said biosecurity needs to be taken very seriously.
"Young Australians [in Bali] might not have biosecurity in the forefront of their consciousness most of the time ... Not from the footage I've seen," he said.
Narrabri Shire Council has responded rapidly to the threat, taking note of the concern expressed by cattle farmers.
The council already has already released an emergency saleyard response plan "setting out procedures that will be followed if an emergency animal disease e.g. foot and mouth disease (FMD) is detected in the saleyards".
Mark Kriedemann
I take a particular interest in industry, environment, science, and technology subjects. Besides studies in media, my tertiary education covers genetics, as well as International Relations. I therefore strive to draw links between these varying disciplines to give a comprehensive analysis of developments in industry, agriculture, and the associated politics.
I take a particular interest in industry, environment, science, and technology subjects. Besides studies in media, my tertiary education covers genetics, as well as International Relations. I therefore strive to draw links between these varying disciplines to give a comprehensive analysis of developments in industry, agriculture, and the associated politics.
