cancelled. It took nine months to bring foot-and-mouth under control. It was impossible to trace exactly how it arrived in the UK. It was theorised that it probably came from somewhere in Asia and travelled to the UK via South Africa in either catering waste or illegally imported meat and found its way on to a piggery in Essex. The disease epidemic was a human tragedy as well as an animal one. Distress was experienced across diverse groups well beyond the farming community. Tragically there were those who took their own lives and others were left with ongoing mental health effects as a result of the crisis. In one case one man had not used his lorry for seven weeks because he was afraid of carrying the disease to areas unaffected by the disease. He thought his business was finished. A friend told a coronial hearing "his mood changed with the outbreak of foot and mouth. I used to say 'We are not finished, Glyn' but no one could persuade him any other way." Out of the devastation experienced in the UK came lessons for the rest of the world in handling such a crisis. UK farmers are quick to point to a lack of information from the authorities as a major cause of distress. Closer to home in WA our Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development have been involved in many joint scenario exercises with their federal colleagues planning for this eventuality. This is expected to reassure vulnerable industries that we are well placed to both stop FMD from entering Australia and that we can deal with it quickly and efficiently if it does. The extent to which this is reassuring to industry is limited. As the UK experience tells us, communication is the key to industry engagement and confidence and at this stage communication from
Owners of livestock will be compensated for livestock that are destroyed during an FMD outbreak, but transporters, like other allied industries will receive nothing
the government has fallen well short of confidence boosting. Most of the information about what is being done at our borders has come from the media and has been general. The federal Minister for Agriculture has announced that biosecurity officers are now boarding planes and reinforcing biosecurity messages and mail profiling and inspections has been stepped up. There are strong penalties for breaching biosecurity laws by bringing meat products into Australia including 10 years in prison. Despite this, illegal products are intercepted daily. For example, in an eight month period 27 tonnes of pork products were intercepted across all airports and at international mail centres, reflecting 32,012 traveller carried items and 2,911 mail articles. Apart from what is being done to stop the disease entering Australia, we need to know details about what will happen if we have to deal with the disease on our shores. For vulnerable industries such as rural transport it is vital that we know that plans are in place to enable for example prime movers to be disinfected and moved during a prolonged standstill so they can be deployed on other work that is not an FMD risk. What disinfectant is suitable and where will
livestock already in transit be taken are just some of the things we need to know. Owners of livestock will be compensated for livestock that are destroyed during an FMD outbreak, but transporters, like other allied industries will receive nothing. With many companies currently experiencing high costs in labour, fuel and parts any interruption to revenue will create significant hardship for some businesses and will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in others. Hopefully by the time this article is published the immediate danger in Indonesia will be under control, but in the meantime I implore everyone, whether they have contact with farms on not, to take extra precautions when returning from overseas holidays, particularly Indonesia. Think about leaving your clothes behind or at the very least have them laundered prior to leaving. Scrub your shoes before leaving and bin the double pluggers. It’s a small price to pay for protecting animals, livelihoods, our trading reputation and the economy. If you have been affected by this article, help can be found at Lifeline on 13 11 14, and beyondblue on 1300 22 4636.
Information session - on-road enforcement of automated vehicles
T
he National Transport Commission is developing policy for the on-road enforcement of automated vehicles. They have published a discussion paper that looks at the current powers of law enforcement officers in the context of automated vehicles. The paper examines if enforcement officers
have sufficient powers to interact with and respond to the road safety risks of automated vehicles. The paper also covers practical aspects of interacting with automated vehicles and suggests options to address any gaps. To view the paper visit https://www. ntc.gov.au/transport-reform/ntc-projects/
road-enforcement-automated-vehicles In support of the NTC’s public consultation, they will host an online information session to overview the paper and hear your views. The session will be held from 10.00am – 11.00am on 11 August 2022. https://comms.ntc.gov.au/link/id/ zzzz62ccd5dbadb0a831Pzzzz60ebfdb c8ca31590/page.html WATM • August 2022
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