Biosecurity measures will be ramped up at the Perth Royal Show to reduce the risk of a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, despite no recorded cases in Australia.
Similar measures are being taken at royal shows in other capital cities, as the agriculture sector fears the spread of the disease to Australia from neighbouring Indonesia, which is battling an outbreak of the deadly livestock disease.
Hand sanitiser and sanitising foot mats – like those seen in airports – will be provided, as well as informational signs and visitor restrictions when the Royal Show kicks off next month.
The state government has stopped short of reducing livestock or attendance numbers at the show, as some agriculture events elsewhere refuse entry to people who have recently travelled from Indonesia.
The Federal Agriculture Department has calculated there is a 11.6 per cent risk of the disease getting past Australian borders.
WA Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan said she believed the biosecurity measures in place at Indonesian and Australian airports by the Federal Government had been sufficient in stopping any transmission of FMD.
"We haven't for a couple weeks now had any evidence of any cases in Bali, we know they have culled all their infected cattle in Bali, there's been no new infections for two weeks," she said.
Foot and mouth risk 'won't deter farmers'
Indonesian officials reported earlier this month they were aiming to get the disease under control by the end of the year, with no recently reported outbreaks in Bali.
Ms MacTiernan said she thought there would be the usual strong show of farmers and livestock producers, despite the disease risk.
"With all the biosecurity measures in place, farmers are aware there's a high level of vigilance," she said.
The WA Government is putting $2 million towards this year's show – half of what they contributed last year – which they say will be used to keep ticket prices low, support a new agriculture precinct, and provide an educational program aimed at teenagers.
Ms MacTiernan said the government would subsidise the cost of tickets by 25 per cent, giving WA the cheapest family pass in the country.
Royal Agriculture Society of WA chief executive Robyn Sermon said the new biosecurity measures were the strongest on record.
"The risk to Australia is around 11 per cent, so the risk here is much less, but we just want to make sure that the precautions are in place to protect our animals," she said.
To reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread at the week-long show, numbers will be capped at 75,000 people a day and free rapid antigen tests will be given out by the Health Department.
Bigger threat than FMD
WA Farmers Federation president John Hassell welcomed the new measures at this year's Royal Show.
He said other biosecurity protections in place at airports had been proven to work for years.
"The federal government's done a great job with quarantine, we've put extra dogs in at Cairns and Darwin to make sure there are dogs at every entry point," he said.
He said an outbreak would devastate the country's $8 billion cattle industry, but believed the risk was small.
Mr Hassell said lumpy skin disease was more of a threat.
"We've got protocols in place that if there's an outbreak [of foot and mouth disease], there's an immediate shutdown to stop livestock movements … which should limit the spread," he said.
"If lumpy skin [disease] gets into Papua New Guinea for example, it's quite close to Australia and insect vectors could blow across the channel and I think that's probably a bigger risk ... it's more likely a case of when, rather than if."
