The panel (L to R) Brigid Price, David McNab, Dr Samantha Allan and Dr Alisson Crook.

Avian flu, FMD and contractors’ access were top of mind for producers attending a biosecurity seminar at Beef 2o24.

A panel convened by Queensland DAF and Animal Health Australia (AHA) took questions from an audience of about 60 people, explaining the planning and preparedness for the nation’s livestock and plant industries in the event of a major disease emergency.

Questioned about Australia’s readiness in the event of an avian flu outbreak, Queensland’s chief vet Dr Allison Crook said: “Avian influenza globally is signifcant; we have been watching it very, very closely over the last 18 to 24 months.

AHA acting Chief Executive Dr Samantha Allan said authorities were looking at updating the national response plan for the disease.  She said the focus until now had been on commercial poultry and wild bird populations. “It’s killing lots of wild birds, which is different to avian influenza outbreaks in the past. So it’s changed. It’s in marine mammals and dairy cattle and goats,” she said. “We are working with colleagues overseas and we’re talking with experts about new developments in vaccines. So we’re doing lots of behind-the-scenes research and networking so that we can be ready.”

Can I lock my gate on biosecurity grounds?

One attendee wanted to know if he could deny access to external contractors over biosecurity risks.

Christopher Lawson from Emu Park said: “Government-owned services such as Ergon Energy have a pretty bull-headed and reckless attitude to private property,” he said. “They insist that, under Queensland legislation, they have unrestricted access to private property whenever they want.

“Biosecurity measures, however, would argue differently. So can I legally lock my front gate to protect my farm from biosecurity risk entering it? Can I ask Ergon to insist that all their contractors ring to make an appointment – as I have to do when I go to see them – or even just to call me so that I can enable access to a site?

“Or can I ask them to leave the farm, go and wash down their vehicles and return with a receipt from a car wash, given they drive on multiple properties?”

David McNab, emergency preparedness manager for Biosecurity Queensland said: “In short, no. You can’t lock your gate. There’s lots of other entities have got legal responsibilities and also legal obligations to be able to access your properties: your Ergons, water utilities and mining companies. They do have legal rights to go onto your properties. They don’t have legal rights to just do what they like.

“We actually do a lot with senior management of Ergon and their biosecurity plan is actually quite good. But they’ve got contractors out on the ground that are more interested in dollars and getting x things done. So it is really difficult.

“In a business-as-usual context, in Queensland we have the general Biosecurity Obligation where, if you know a risk exists, we expect you to do a reasonable and practical things.”

He listed possible actions including signage and engaging with local contractors. “But it’s not definitive, unfortunately, it’s not black and white and locking the gates can’t work because they’ve got to be in there checking power lines or water. It does comes down to negotiated process with your individual contractors in you local area. A bulk of those big companies have good biosecurity plans – it’s just getting it done at a local level.”

Brigid Price shares her Ergon experience with Christopher and Kirsty Lawson

Brigid Price who, with her husband Owen, won the 2022 Farm Biosecurity Producer of the Year award detailed a successful interaction from the preceding week. “We had a text come through advising that Ergon Energy was coming on our premises. My text went straight back saying, as part of our biosecurity management we require fresh, third-party washdowns. The message came back ‘yes, we can do that’. They arrived, they had that wash-down certificate.

“We took a pro-active response and said ‘please be aware this is a requirement to our property’. They were more than happy.

“It’s about communication, clarity and actually being pro-active. If you have those rules, don’t just wait for that emergency. Do it now so that we, as producer,  can ground truth.

“Once more producers do this it’s an expectation. We can’t assume that everybody else will take that shared responsibility.”

Matias Suarez: FMD easily managed by just vaccinating our animals

Finally, cattleman Matias Suarez raised the possibiity of living with FMD within the Australian industry.

He asked: “Is there anything we can do in the World Health Organization to minimise the trade barrier that foot and mouth is?

“It’s been a trade barrier for – I don’t know – 50 years and we are now in a globalised world where transport and movement of things is a lot different to when that (trade barrier) was set up. Is it worth for Australia, at the risk of $80m, to start thinking about foot and mouth in a different way?

He described FMD as a disease “that doesn’t cause a lot of damage to the cattle. Foot and mouth is a very, very benign disease.”

He added: “By benign I mean, there are some very effective vaccines out there, so the disease could be managed real easily by just vaccinating our animals like the other diseases we use with vaccines and we don’t spend too much time on.”

David McNab replied: “I would question if FMD is low-impact. It’s low mortality – we get that. It’s 5-10% mortality, but it’s massively impactful to our herd and if we didn’t eradicate it you’re just going to get this constant cycle of up and down.

“You’ll lose huge amount of production then you’ll get on top of it and in a couple of years it will come back again.

Eradicating FMD is not solely based on our access to international markets it’s a disease that’s impactful from the production cycle.

“I suppose if we decide to live with it and just vaccinate then it does become about market access issue because a significant amount of our markets will not accept our status as FMD with vaccination. So, long term, those things are out.  Those are trade discussions and trade is politics.”