“The Albanian government is taking itself very seriously in keeping this devastating disease out of Australia,” Watt said.
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“The measures had already been strengthened in response to the [foot and mouth] outbreak in Indonesia and have intensified following official confirmation from Indonesian authorities that foot-and-mouth disease had spread to Bali. “
Troy Setter, executive director of Consolidated Pastoral Company, which runs a beef business operating in Australia and Indonesia, also said travel between the two countries should remain open, noting that foot-and-mouth disease was present in many Southeast Asian countries.
But he urged travelers to take personal responsibility when they return home.
“If we had an animal with foot-and-mouth disease or 10,000, the implications are the same,” Setter said. “We would lose trade and market access to most of our market and not just red meat, but products grown on the ground or with a link to animals.”
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Mark Harvey-Sutton, executive director of the Australian Cattle Exporters Council, said tourism was too important for Indonesia to cut it.
“We must remember that this is not all about us. Our neighbor and closest friend in Indonesia is facing an outbreak that is affecting their food security and livelihoods,” he said.
“We need to help as much as possible with vaccines and technical support for biosecurity control.”
Australia’s biosafety plan for foot-and-mouth disease said there is “little evidence to suggest” that humans will exhale the virus “would play an important role” and said the risk can be managed by quarantining people.
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Invasive pests and infectious diseases are a growing threat to Australia’s biosecurity, brought to the ground by global warming, international travel or trade between distant nations.
Failures to increase funding to detect exotic pests and diseases over the past decade have jeopardized Australia’s comparative advantage of being largely free of livestock diseases.
The Morrison government was ruined by the rural sector when it ruled out its plan for a $ 1 per tonne tax on bulk imports transported by sea in 2019, which was designed to ensure biosecurity protections, after pressuring exposed industries such as cement and resources.
“There is certainly a need for more funding for biosecurity. This is not a new call, agricultural agencies have been warning for a long time,” said the executive director of the Australian Farm Institute. , Richard Heath.
About 70 per cent of Australia’s agricultural products are exported. It is welcomed by almost every market in the world because of its disease-free status, a key advantage over competing countries due to the higher labor and regulatory costs of our farmers.
“It’s very easy to lose that advantage and once it’s gone you don’t get it back,” Heath said.
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