Indonesia lifts suspension on Australian cattle & buffalo
The livestock industry is breathing a collective sigh of relief, with Indonesia lifting its ban on Australian live cattle and buffalo exports. The ban was imposed after concerns were raised regarding the highly infectious lumpy skin disease, which Indonesia alleged were present in cattle from northern Australia.
Transcript
00:00 It can cause blisters and reduce milk production. It's not harmful for humans, but it's a really
00:07 big problem for the live export industry. Now, Indonesia is Australia's largest live
00:14 export cattle trade partner, which means that lumpy skin disease was a really big concern.
00:20 And when Indonesia implemented a ban on around four Australian exporters from sending their
00:26 cattle to Indonesia, it effectively brought trade to a halt. Now, those exporters were
00:31 in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, and three more faced restrictions
00:37 as well. So now that means that this news today about the export ban lifting is effectively
00:45 a sigh of relief for exporters who can now send their cattle back over there and the
00:50 export trade can resume. But basically, it's been spreading in Indonesia since March, March
00:55 last year, and it hasn't been detected in Australia at all. But Indonesia alleged that
01:02 cattle with lumpy skin disease had arrived in Indonesia on export ships from Australia.
01:11 So Lillian, do we understand a bit more about why Indonesia has now allowed live cattle
01:16 export trade to resume? Well, basically, it triggered a really big
01:21 diplomatic effort from Australia when Indonesia announced that it had banned live exports
01:28 from Australia. So a delegation, including the Chief Veterinary Officer, went over to
01:33 Indonesia this week to discuss the matter with Indonesian officials. And Anthony Albanese,
01:40 the Australian Prime Minister, in fact, raised it with the Indonesian President Joko Widodo
01:46 as well. But also within Australia, there's been extensive testing of cattle in Northern
01:53 Australia for lumpy skin disease since Indonesia announced its ban. And around 1,000 cattle
01:59 were tested since the ban, and none of them have returned a positive result for lumpy
02:04 skin disease. So essentially, now Indonesia is satisfied that there's not a risk that
02:09 cattle will have lumpy skin disease when they come over to the country from Australia. It's
02:16 news that's really been welcomed by the Australian Live Export Council, who said that it's a
02:22 relief, but they always expected that a good outcome would come about because there's such
02:28 a longstanding relationship between Indonesian and Australian live export industries, markets
02:34 rather. And the Agricultural Minister, Murray Watt, has also welcomed the news, saying it's
02:39 a testament to the calm negotiations between the two governments.
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