Page 2160 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 June 2018
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New South Wales regulation is finalised so that there is consistency between the jurisdictions.
These measures are being introduced for the improvement of biosecurity in the ACT. Biosecurity is a high priority essential for animal disease control and ensuring food safety and market access for our primary producers. Our clean and green reputation is a major trading advantage; so an animal disease outbreak or chemical residue incident could cripple the industry and lead to the collapse of export markets.
The ability to effectively track stock is critical in an emergency animal disease response. This was most recently demonstrated in the 2017 bluetongue virus incident in Victoria where the property and identification codes and NLIS databases were instrumental in tracing and surveillance activities. They provided vital information that helped determine the extent of the problem and informed the response plan.
Being able to trace livestock movement is increasingly important to assure our trading partners about the safety of our food and the integrity of our animals. Modern and effective biosecurity legislation is required to ensure that ACT primary producers have continued access to interstate and overseas markets. The legislation also helps protect the industry, the broader community and the environment from potential disease outbreaks.
Before I go into the details of the bill, I will give some background information about the rural sector in the ACT, the limitations in our current legislation and what the NLIS is all about. Sheep and cattle grazing is the primary activity conducted on rural land in the ACT. We have about 48,000 sheep, 7,000 cattle and 1,500 horses. We have 195,000 chickens on four poultry farms and currently there are no feedlots, abattoirs or piggeries.
The ACT government is responsible for monitoring Canberra saleyards, with approximately 400 cattle passing through monthly. Currently there is limited legislation in the ACT mandating the recording of stock movements. There is an offence under section 47 of the Animal Diseases Act 2005 to move taggable stock that is not tagged. There is also a requirement in the Animal Diseases Regulation 2006 for cattle to be tagged with a national livestock identification device.
However, it is currently not mandatory in the ACT for sheep, goats and pigs to be fitted with an identification device. It is also not mandatory for these livestock owners to have a property identification code, or PIC. This means that a mob of sheep can be moved within the ACT from property to property without movements being recorded on the NLIS database. This creates difficulties in tracing the movements of the stock in the event of a disease outbreak.
The national livestock identification system is a database for Australia’s permanent whole-of-life identification system. This system aims to ensure individual cattle, sheep, pigs and goats can be traced from birth to slaughter. The database is endorsed by major producers, feedlots, agents, saleyards and processor bodies. The database identifies animals, their physical location—by the property identification codes—and provides electronic access to information.
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