Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry about that, Mr Deputy President. I was just enjoying Senator Rennick's interjections—which are always disorderly, I would remind Senator Rennick.

I too rise to take note of the answers given by Senator Watt. At the beginning, I will note the very thoughtful contribution of Senator McDonald. Like Senator McDonald, I too come from a farming background and, like Senator McDonald, I care deeply about the agricultural industries of Australia. As Senator McDonald said, we in this place are reflecting on the level of concern we are hearing from our agricultural communities that under threat from foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease and the response that is currently occurring.

Senator Watt was sworn in from 1 June. Yes, foot-and-mouth disease was present in Indonesia when Senator Watt was sworn in. But, in July, foot-and-mouth disease reached Bali, a full month after Senator Watt was sworn in. The number of arrivals from Bali to Perth in the month of July was around 17,000 people—17,000 individual passengers returning to Perth airport from Bali. From the evidence given and the dates publicly available as to when foot baths, foot cleaning, became available in the airport, there were two days of foot cleaning available in the airport. That means—and I'll be generous—that around 1,500 or, at best, 2,000 passengers had access to those foot baths. So we had 17,000 passengers arriving back in Perth in the month of July and, at best, around 2,000 of them had access to foot baths at a time when—probably for all that time—foot-and-mouth disease was present in Bali.

Foot-and-mouth disease was only detected in Bali, I believe, on 6 or 7 July. However, everybody knows that the presence of foot-and-mouth disease would predate the actual date of declaration. So we effectively had a full month, with more than a month of warning before that, of Senator Watt being the minister, and around 15,000 individual passengers returned on planes from Bali to Perth and there were no foot baths and no increased level of inspection. Anecdotally—and I know you cannot rely on anecdotes in this place; you need hard evidence—I have spoken to numerous people who went through the airport returning from Bali in that period who ticked a box saying that they had been to a farm, who ticked a box saying they had been to rural areas, and who received no additional inspection—no additional inspection and no additional precautions to take footwear out of bags, to examine it for dirt and to look for potentially contaminated products in luggage. So you had people doing the right thing and declaring—Australians care deeply about agriculture—and then nothing happens.

The other thing that worries those on our side is when you have a state Labor minister downplaying the serious threat of foot-and-mouth disease and saying, 'Oh, it could make milk and meat cheaper.' Have we heard one word out of the federal minister for agriculture on that topic? Have we heard one word from Minister Watt, the minister for agriculture, the minister who is responsible for protecting the agricultural industries of Australia? Did he repudiate that state Labor minister? There was not a word, and yet this is the state Labor minister who the minister said, in his own words, yesterday that he is relying on to manage biosecurity.

Question agreed to.