Australia is frantically trying to stop a foot and mouth outbreak from riding home from Bali with hundreds of tourists, which would be a biosecurity and economic nightmare.
Most Australians would be impacted by an outbreak since prices for everything from a morning coffee to a takeout burger and the weekly supermarket shop will increase, potentially costing the economy up to $80 billion.
The warning was issued after pork products from a Melbourne store tested positive for foot and mouth disease and African swine fever virus elements.
Australia is still free of the diseases because the live virus was not found, but Murray Watt, the agriculture minister, emphasized the significance of biosecurity measures.
The products, which have been seized, were discovered during normal surveillance in the Melbourne CBD and are thought to have been imported from China.
According to Senator Watt, this is the first occasion that viral bits have been found in a retail environment.
In an effort to prevent foot and mouth disease from traveling to Australia on travelers’ shoes, sanitary mats will be introduced at international airports at the same time as the detection.
It is the most recent action taken by the federal government to stop the animal sickness from spreading on Australian soil.
The disease’s spread has been a problem for Indonesia since it was recently discovered in Bali, a well-liked vacation spot for Australian tourists.
According to Watt, the mats would provide an additional line of defense against an outbreak.
But he added that Australians leaving the area should still clean their clothing and shoes, or if possible, leave their footwear abroad.
According to a statement released by Senator Watt on Wednesday, “there is no biosecurity magic bullet.”
“Our biosecurity controls use a multi-layered strategy to reduce the danger of FMD (foot and mouth disease),” the statement reads.
The mats will be distributed this week, beginning at the airports in Darwin and Cairns.
According to Senator Watt, they are meant to serve as a tangible warning to travelers of the disease’s risk.
Visitors coming from Indonesia to Australia will be required to walk across the mats to sanitize their shoes.
To remove any debris from the shoe sole and coat it in acid, the mats include a citric acid solution.
Passenger declarations, profiling of all travelers arriving from Indonesia, real-time risk assessments, interrogations, and shoe cleaning are further biosecurity procedures.
The government last week unveiled a $14 million biosecurity plan for additional frontline defenses in airports and mail facilities as well as assistance for Indonesia and neighboring nations to stop the spread.
However, there has already been criticism that the safeguards are insufficient, with demands that travelers face harsh penalties for lying on their travel credentials.
One of the key initiatives consists of reintroducing biosecurity detector dogs to Darwin and Cairns airports as well as stationing 18 new biosecurity officials at Australian airports and mail centers.
According to Nationals leader David Littleproud, there is currently a “one in five possibility” that the disease will enter Australia.
He told Daily Mail Australia that the Labor government needed to “go further” since it had “taken too long” to respond.
The $20 million allocated in the budget for traceability and a gene bank for cattle must be expedited, according to the government.
Additionally, he demanded that “3D X-ray scanners at airports for baggage” be implemented right away.
The Cattle Council of Australia stated that although the biosecurity precautions implemented are “a positive start,” it is important to remember that the disease can also spread through clothing.
According to CCA President Lloyd Hick, “This disease would decimate our business and can simply migrate back to Australia on garments.”
The CCA noted that failure to declare prohibited materials might result in fines of up to $1.1 million and ten years in prison.
However, it urged for harsh punishments for travelers who make fraudulent declarations and called for an urgent rise in the amount of on-the-spot fines.
The Government ought to reconsider its on-the-spot fines, which have a $2,660 maximum.
“While a few hundred dollar fines have been handed out occasionally, the risk to our industry and the Australian economy is in the billions.”
‘This is a massive imbalance, particularly when someone has deliberately made a false declaration.
“Immigration should also consider revoking visas for individuals who submit false biosecurity declarations,” said one expert.
The scale of the biosecurity emergency is huge, with hundreds of Australians flying into Bali every day for a break from the cold Down Under.
On Thursday and Friday, a total of 32 flights landed in Australia from Bali, according to Mr Littleproud.
A Melbourne airport spokeswoman confirmed 686 passengers arrived from Bali on Thursday, and 1050 departed for the island destination.
A Brisbane airport spokesman 23,376 people, travelled to Bali between June 10 and July 10.
According to Tony Mahar, CEO of the National Farmers’ Federation, an outbreak would bring all industries involving cattle, sheep, or pigs to a “grinding standstill.”
If FMD entered Australia, we would first need to determine the extent of the outbreak and the need for immediate livestock standstills to stop its spread.
The supply chains will come to a complete standstill as a result, and if cattle cannot leave the farm, meat cannot reach grocery shelves, according to Mr. Mahar.
In the worst case scenario, it could significantly restrict the supply of chops and snags for the barbecue and meat for your burger, but more importantly, everyone along the supply chain will have their jobs in jeopardy, including farmers, truck drivers, processors, and a long list of others.
A grazier from southern New South Wales demanded “an immediate ban” on all travel to and from Bali earlier this week.
“An immediate ban on travel to and from Bali and any other parts of Indonesia where the disease is present is necessary and a very small price to pay to reduce the risk to Australia,” farmer Charles Harvey wrote on Twitter.
“The cost to Australia if foot and mouth disease enters Australia is such that the ban is necessary.”
Senator Susan McDonald of North Queensland said that travelers returning from Bali should spend a week in quarantine to reduce the likelihood that the extremely contagious illness will reach Australia.
She claimed that the effects would likely be of “biblical proportions” on consumers, farmers, and animals.
They might think, “I haven’t been on a farm,” but what we’re saying is that Bali has animal contact and animal workers, she explained.
If someone touches animal waste, they might easily carry the sickness inside on their shoes or the bottom of a luggage.
Columnist and future wife of former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce Vikkie Campion supported Ms. McDonald in advocating the use of vacant Covid quarantine facilities throughout Australia to keep FMD out.
She stated in The Saturday Telegraph that “everyone returning from Bali should get a bonus 28 hours in the brand-new Wellcamp quarantine station, which the Queensland Labor State Government opened just in time for Covid quarantine measures to cease.”
“If you can close the borders of Australia for a disease we already had, then you can defend tighter measures for a virus with a $80 billion price tag.”
According to Sydney University professor Michael Ward, the persistence and spread of foot and mouth disease are “remarkable.”
It can linger on a variety of inanimate objects, including livestock equipment, clothing, shoes, car tires, and equipment used to transport livestock, according to him.
Even those who come into contact with infected livestock may still carry the virus on their hands and inside their noses.
Over six million cattle carcasses were burned on 2000 farms as a result of the disease, which cost the British economy $19 billion in 2001.
It is believed that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and foot and mouth disease are both at least as contagious.
It is tragically possible for farmers to be instructed to kill and burn even healthy animals inside officially declared quarantine zones.
This is due to the fact that it is highly contagious, difficult to control, and necessitates a vaccination program with vaccines tailored to particular disease strains.
Catherine Marriott, CEO of Riverine Plains and another farmer, pleaded with travelers to “leave your clothes and your shoes over there.”
“Support their regional economies, buy [and leave] [clothes and shoes] there.”
In Australia, there hasn’t been an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 130 years.