Wednesday,14 August 2024


Adjournment

Biosecurity


Biosecurity

The Warrnambool saleyard facility was particularly crucial. The AgVic DEECA review I named earlier placed it in its highest use category at more than 40 hours per week. Taken together with the closure of the Camperdown saleyard site, this now means that the report’s conclusion is no longer accurate. While it may have been true in September 2023 that, and I quote:

The review found strong evidence of a functional regional and rural truck wash network serving the needs of the livestock industry across Victoria …

This is no longer the case. Lacking this infrastructure could have substantial biosecurity consequences as well as costing enormous amounts of time and money by necessitating long journeys to alternative facilities. Farmers in the south-west, the heart of dairy country and close to recent avian flu outbreak sites, are deeply concerned by this situation. Given the importance of this infrastructure and substantial biosecurity levies already raised from the industries involved, the action I seek from the minister is a new and rapid review of the network and a commitment to build adequate new facilities where substantial gaps are found.