Queensland Country Life editor Lucy Kinbacher explores the vital measures needed to protect Queensland from major biosecurity challenges, including foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease, and African swine fever.
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00:00Hi, welcome to AgriCast by ACM and joining me is the editor of Queensland Country Live
00:13to talk about biosecurity, which has been a very hot topic across the country and especially
00:18in that state. Welcome, Lisa Kinbacker. Tell us a bit about the cattle tick outbreak in
00:23particular that's unfolding in the Roma district and the implications that has for producers
00:28in the area.
00:29So Queensland does have a cattle tick line and it's really important. Cattle that are
00:33exposed to ticks or immune to ticks stay on one side and cattle that aren't stay on the
00:37other. So it's a pretty obvious situation. In November, we saw or heard of reports in
00:42Biomount of some tick outbreaks in clean sow yards. It does have big impacts because those
00:49cattle when they are exposed to ticks that they're not normally exposed to can have repercussions
00:54to weight gain or even milk and in worst case scenarios could lead to death as well
00:59for particular cattle. Even I guess more concerning is the fact that the government's since come
01:03out and said that there's just over 180 incursions of this happening. So this isn't just a one-off.
01:08Lisa, you've got a new government in Queensland and they have announced a possible extra 100
01:16jobs in biosecurity. What would that mean for the agriculture industry?
01:21Yeah. So sort of a big situation, especially with this Biomount case was yeah, the resourcing
01:26and the staff and the support. And as anyone understands, employing people at the moment
01:30isn't easy. And so the government leading into this election made a very bold statement
01:35or promise, sorry, around biosecurity. And one of those promises was 100 new staff on
01:39the ground. We're yet to see them, obviously. It's only been very recent, our last election,
01:44but the hope is that by having more of those staff on the ground, these sorts of cases
01:48and incidents, there will be more support for producers, either when it happens and
01:52then afterwards. A lot of people have said that perhaps it's that they don't need a university
01:56degree, that this is a trade and there needs to be a lot more attraction for people to
02:01want to take on these positions. So it's something that no doubt we'll hear more about.
02:05What are some of the other biosecurity concerns that Queensland is grappling with at the moment?
02:09Yeah, I wouldn't say that we're grappling with them, but we're very cautious of them.
02:13Big ones like FMD and LSD are really important. Obviously, we do export a lot of cattle out
02:18of this country. In the swine industry, the pork industry, there's a lot of fears there.
02:22And even the tomato industry, we've had other cases in other states of diseases there too.
02:27So biosecurity isn't just related to the cattle industry. It's something that could affect
02:31any of our production and food.
02:33Is African swine fever a concern or a worry for some farmers, with obviously North Queensland
02:39being so close to PNG?
02:41A hundred percent it is. I think it is, you know, any disease that's going to impact an
02:45industry is of concern, even if it isn't here yet. And we only have to look to see how easily
02:51and quickly it can get here, you know, airborne diseases and that sort of thing. So yes, it
02:56is a concern. And that's why there's a lot of producer groups and lobby groups that are
03:00really leaning on the government to make sure that these sort of things don't get in and
03:04ensuring that they understand the repercussions if they did.
03:08Lucy Kinbeth, thank you so much for joining us.