From Saturday, all returning travellers from Indonesia must clean their shoes and walk over sanitation mats. 9News
From Saturday, all returning travellers from Indonesia must clean their shoes and walk over sanitation mats to prevent an outbreak that would decimate Australia's livestock.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt announced late on Friday the new biosecurity powers that "compel" travellers to sanitise their shoes when arriving at airports across Australia.An Indonesian officer sprays disinfectant on a cattle farm that has been infected with foot and mouth disease on July 22, 2022 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
"I had been concerned about some rare reports that some return travellers were not doing the right thing when returning from Indonesia," Watt said in a statement. "These zones strengthen and widen the powers of biosecurity officers to direct passengers to use foot mats and other biosecurity control measures such as the cleaning of shoes."
The creation of "biosecurity response zones" means biosecurity officers are now empowered to direct entire planeloads of people to undergo the sanitation measures."Obviously indicated I'd arrived from Indonesia and then went through, declared my footwear and they were taken, sterilised, returned to me and I was able to go on my way," one traveller said.
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