John Alexander, MP for Bennelong (Liberal), has an excellent summary of the issues regarding Australia’s live export trade.
How odd that it should take a politician from Sydney’s north west to provide the most sensible summary on the live export trade yet. Clearly, a career roaming the world playing professional tennis plus a background in small business has fostered a broad and enquiring mind and practical sense of how to deal with issues in an objective manner. John’s article on the live export trade is clearly very well researched.
I had wondered about the ongoing Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) issue in South American countries when it was mentioned by others that they would be eager to step into our shoes to fill Indonesia’s live export import quotas, but I was unaware that Australia had assisted Indonesia in eradicating FMD.
Clearly, the risk of exotic disease introduction is the single very best reason for Australia to ensure we remain the most significant supplier of live export cattle, if for no other reason than keeping alternative suppliers from supplying live cattle to our close northern neighbour.
The introduction of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) into Australia would be a disaster for cloven-hoofed animals (sheep, cattle, goats, camels, buffaloes etc) and ruin our livestock industries. Additionally, this devastation would indirectly impact significantly on the amount of available for conservation work to protect native animals.
Tags: Australian quarantine and biosecurity, Australian meat industry, Australian Beef Industry, Conservation and the environment