ANALYSIS: 'Hysteria of the Coalition': Farmers president takes aim at Peter Dutton and opposition over foot-and-mouth
The opposition leader's call for Australia to shut the border to Indonesia due to the risk of spreading foot-and-mouth disease does not appear to be on the advice of the chief vet.Australia's chief vet Mark Schipp continually reviews Australia's biosecurity preparedness and as recently as this week has said he does not believe closing the border with Indonesia is warranted.
National Farmers' Federation president Fiona Simson says hysteria from Coalition on foot-and-mouth disease is not helpful. He also says Indonesia is taking extensive measures to vaccinate livestock and has repeatedly advised that illegally imported food parcels pose a greater risk of spreading livestock disease compared to tourists carrying virus on their clothes or boots.
In May, when foot-and-mouth disease was first reported in Indonesia, then-agriculture minister David Littleproud said he would "take my advice from the chief veterinary office as the foot-and-mouth disease situation evolves". Unlike Dutton and some Coalition MPs, Littleproud has stopped short of calling for the border with Indonesia to be closed.
"The mixed messaging and hysteria of the Coalition on this issue is simply not helpful at a time when farmers are obviously and justifiably so extremely concerned," Simson told the ABC.
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