Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Ciccone. Foot-and-mouth disease obviously is heavily impacting Indonesia and its economy right now. Again, I might say that it was impacting Indonesia prior to the election of this government and prior to the introduction of the measures that we have put in place. With this government's assistance, Indonesian authorities are doing many things to get the outbreak under control. On 15 July I announced a $14 million biosecurity package to bolster Australia's front-line technical defence and provide more technical support for countries currently battling foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease. Of course, that followed the visit that I undertook to Indonesia to meet with Indonesian ministers about how we could assist.

Again, it's no wonder then that so many industry representatives have praised the government for what we've done and it's no wonder that so many industry representatives have criticised commentary about this issue which has been more political than anything else. Ian McColl, from the New South Wales Farmers Association, says, 'I see some people out there using this outbreak as a weapon to further their own ends, and frankly it's pretty disappointing.' I wonder who he could be talking about.