Australia’s chances of keeping foot and mouth disease out of the country are close to zero if the behaviour of young Aussies at Denpasar airport is anything to go by. | Jimmy Thomson | OPINION
are close to zero if the behaviour of young Aussies at Denpasar airport before my recent return from Bali is anything to go by.
Despite official airport requirements, teenagers and young adults were unmasked, coughing and sneezing as they queued for food, meeting loud comments to mask-up from other passengers with sneers and eye-rolls. Indonesia, including the holiday island of Bali, has been grappling with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. Australia has been free of the disease for more than a century and just one positive case could shut down the $27 billion livestock export trade.Then I was stuck for the duration of the six-hour flight back to Sydney next to a teenage mask-brat who repeatedly took hers off or pulled it down over her chin, despite having been politely asked by crew members several times to wear it.
The pre-flight announcements on Qantas planes ask us to respect each other’s choices. How about enforcing the law? What’s the connection with FMD? Perhaps asking some young Aussies travelling back from the hedonism of Bali to behave responsibly is a stretch.that they trekked through paddy fields or got soaked in white-water rafting outings? Both, by the way, are covered by tickable boxes on the arrivals forms.
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