Page 2665 - Week 07 - Thursday, 2 August 2018
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code to identify locations, just like the one I have here. Traceability is provided by the combination of ear tags, movement documents and uploads of all mob-based movements to saleyards, abattoirs and other properties in the NLIS database.
Through the management of certain diseases, the NLIS helps Australia to maintain access to key export markets. It provides a mechanism to manage food safety or disease outbreaks, and is implemented by industry in partnership with governments across Australia. It is currently mandatory for cattle in the ACT.
It was introduced for sheep and goats in New South Wales on 1 January 2006. Internal trade in sheep and goats within the ACT—that is, between properties—is currently not required to be recorded. There is no commercial facility for the sale or slaughter for sheep or goats in the ACT, so virtually all sheep in the ACT are, by default, covered by mandatory New South Wales regulation. The bill now makes it mandatory for sheep and goats in the ACT.
A key driver for the creation of the NLIS in Australia was to ensure the adequacy of arrangements for the identification and tracing of cattle in the event of a major exotic disease outbreak. Diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease would be devastating to Australia. Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious animal disease that has had a number of outbreaks in other countries. For example, the 2001 outbreak in the United Kingdom caused losses of more than £8 billion, approximately $A19 billion. The Australian government estimates that a small foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, controlled in three months, could cost around $A7.1 billion while a large 12-month outbreak could cost $A16 billion. There are many diseases that could cause similar devastation to our agricultural industries.
Though the NLIS on its own would not prevent a disease outbreak, it is able to reduce the financial and social impact of a disease epidemic due to its accurate identification and rapid traceability capabilities.
In the ACT, the agricultural sector is a small but important industry worth tens of millions of dollars. There are over 20,000 hectares of land leased for agriculture in the ACT. Commercial animal production here mainly involves the grazing of sheep and cattle; the explanatory statement says that the ACT has 48,000 sheep and 7,000 cattle. Sheep are mainly held for wool production.
The ACT is surrounded by a rich region with agricultural production worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually. The management of agriculture in the ACT, particularly disease management, has the potential to have a significant impact on agriculture in the wider region. For biosecurity reasons, it is therefore important that coordinated cross-border management occurs. The NLIS is one method for that cross-border cooperation.
There are some claims that the benefits of these new requirements are much more significant than the cost. The ability to quickly trace an outbreak of disease or a biosecurity event back to the property of origin will allow more rapid containment and quarantine, for example, and would likely reduce the impacts on other producers, allowing the risk to be managed in a more effective and efficient manner.
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