The detection of viral Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) fragments shows how vulnerable Queensland’s agricultural industry is to the threat.
FMD poses serious risks and its consequences will be severe.
An outbreak will devastate Queensland’s agricultural industries.
It will drive up the cost of meat.
It will hit the hip pockets of consumers.
It will close down rural and regional Queensland.
I am genuinely concerned about the State’s ability to handle an outbreak.
The State Government has been habitually slow to act on biosecurity issues.
Biosecurity in Queensland has been underfunded and understaffed for some time now.
The numbers back that.
The Premier and her Agriculture Minister have been silent. We need to hear from them.
Social media posts are not good enough.
They must ensure Queensland’s biosecurity department has the systems in place to stop this disease at our borders.
They also must ensure they can respond in the event of an outbreak.
Systems and management plans must be in place and they must be in place now.
We can’t get this wrong.
