In the ACT, animals quite rightly are sentient beings. That means they have feelings and feel pain. They are entitled to our protection.
Due to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Bali and the near total lack of response to it to date by the new Albanese government, it will not be long before some unwitting Australian tourist brings to Australia the disease on their shoes, thongs or clothes.
FMD is highly contagious and once in the country, in no time at all will infect our cattle, cows, sheep and pigs. It is painful for the animals and in countries where infestations occur, all livestock have to be slaughtered. From an animal rights point of view, that is an appalling prospect, without even considering the effect on humans.
So far, the new minister has responded by appointing 14 new quarantine inspectors to help out at airports. Whoop-de-do! This will not do anything to stop this dreadful disease coming into Australia.
Now I know Canberrans are city dwellers, and few have any concept of rural Australia and what makes it tick. However, our farmers are responsible for putting food on our table – our meat, our milk, and our other dairy products. Because they do such a good job, we are a net exporter of food, and our meat and dairy products are the best in the world.
Due to the war in Ukraine, grain supplies are down worldwide and if we lose all our cattle and cows, it’s goodbye to the dairy and beef industries. No more milk, steaks, lamb chops and bacon, combined with a lack of grain, means we will be in a serious food crisis.
People in Australia will starve, farmers will suicide; it’s hard enough on the land without this. This will all occur because the new federal government to date has shown itself to be too stupid, ignorant and clueless to take the obvious immediate basic steps necessary to stop this tragedy from occurring.
To fix the problem before it becomes a catastrophe, the following steps need to be taken: stop all travel to Bali until such time as they have the situation under control; quarantine any passengers returning to Australia until such time as they and their clothes are decontaminated and it’s safe for them to enter our country; and send all the help we can to Indonesia to help them overcome their problem.
If the government won’t stop people travelling to Bali (and why on earth shouldn’t they? After all, Australia closed its borders when COVID first started), at the very least don’t let the travellers back into Australia until they have been thoroughly inspected and they and their clothes decontaminated.
If this does not occur, the new government will be responsible for the deaths of a number of Australians, the destruction of our rural sector, possible starvation in this country, and last but not least, the tragic extermination and annihilation of 150 million helpless innocent animals.
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Canberra Daily.
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