Australian visitors returning from Bali will now be required to wash their clothing and footwear as part of new regulations enacted to curb the spread of foot and mouth disease.
In new biosecurity zones at airports, travelers returning from vacation destinations will also need to remove their shoes and step on sanitation mats.
Murray Watt, the agriculture minister, announced on Friday that his office will enact stringent new regulations that would be applied to all travelers in an effort to safeguard the nation’s animals.
‘The difference with these new powers is that rather than having the ability to ask individual passengers to do certain things and relying on their agreement, these new powers if introduced, would apply to all passengers were circumstances required,’ Mr. Watt said.
‘Our agriculture industry is at stake and it’s vital we continue to work together to ensure Australia is foot and mouth disease free.’
Mr. Watts dismissed requests to stop flying from Indonesia and complaints that the government wasn’t doing quickly enough to stop the spread of the disease.
“I believe we have shown courage; we are going in a new direction.” I have repeatedly stated that we would keep implementing measures as necessary,” Mr. Watt added.
We’ll keep patching the holes in the biosecurity wall that the former administration left behind.
Before coating shoes in acid, the mats include a citric acid solution to remove any dirt from their soles.
Passenger declarations, profiling of all travelers arriving from Indonesia, real-time risk assessments, interrogation, and shoe washing are further biosecurity procedures.
All international airports will have the new biosecurity response zones, established under section 365 of the federal Biosecurity Act, which will enable officers to completely risk profile visitors arriving in or departing from Indonesia.
According to Mr. Watt, the Australian government has had access to these authorities for the past seven years but has never made use of them.
As the first administration in Australian history to do so, “We would direct all passengers to comply with the requirements of biosecurity.”
The government last week unveiled a $14 million biosecurity plan for additional frontline defenses at airports and mail facilities as well as assistance for Indonesia and neighboring nations to stop the spread.
Cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs are among the animals affected by the viral illness foot and mouth, which also results in sores and disability.
A foot and mouth outbreak would destroy Australia’s agricultural sector since even a single local incidence would force widespread animal culling and halt livestock migration.
The disease’s spread has been a problem for Indonesia since it was recently discovered in Bali.
The illness is expected to cost Australia’s economy $80 billion over the course of ten years if it is allowed to spread there.
A Melbourne store discovered foot and mouth virus particles in pig items on Wednesday.
The items, which have been confiscated, were discovered during normal monitoring in the Melbourne CBD and are thought to have been smuggled from China.
Australia is still disease-free since the live virus was not found, but Mr. Watts emphasized the significance of biosecurity measures.
Senator Watt acknowledged that animal products — not travelers — posed the greatest threat to bringing the highly deadly virus into the nation.