The surge of fear over foot and mouth disease might have subsided in most of Australia, but we can’t let our guard down.
That’s not a message from the PM – but from his host for the day, cattleman Ryan Olive of Queensland’s iconic Raglan Station, south of Rockhampton.
Olive didn’t mince words when he said the fight was far from over.
“Every step we take on this is a good step, but it’s never going to be the last step,” he said.
“We’re going to need to continue to evolve.”
But while he also cited improving biosecurity measures, he said the priority should be supporting Indonesia.
“Indonesia is a very important customer of ours, and a very important trading partner,” he said.
“We really need to care for them.
“We’re scared of it, but they’ve got it.
“Their learnings there are going to help us be more prepared here.”
