Senator promises to ‘PERSONALLY’ wash the shoes of every Aussie coming home from Bali as devastating disease runs rampant across Indonesia

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie has offered to personally wash the shoes of every Australian coming home from Bali amid fears returning travellers will kick off a viral foot and mouth disease outbreak. 

The worried senator said the government needed to do more to protect Australians and the agriculture industry from the devastating disease.

Mounting pressure from the Liberal party has done little to sway Anthony Albanese’s Labor government’s stance on border closures. 

Many fear the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Bali and Indonesia could be brought into Australia, with multiple fragments of the disease already found in imported products. 

But the Labor government, opposing Nationals leaders and farmers’ associations all say the answer isn’t in snap border closures.

Ms McKenzie, a senator in Victoria, echoed the Albanese government’s disdain for closing borders to Indonesia, which would put other bilateral trades at risk.

Bridget McKenzie (pictured) said the government shouldn’t close borders to Bali but should have far stricter protocols at our borders

Ms McKenzie did however call on the government to have more stringent rules at our borders, suggesting footbaths at all international airports.

‘I don’t believe we need to close the border with Indonesia, I believe this government needs to be serious about stopping foot and mouth at the border,’ she told Sky News.

‘Systems at the border need to respond to the crisis as they occur. Decisions needed to be made weeks and months ago.

‘The fact we have only foot mats going into Darwin and Cairns when you have 16,000 Australian returning from Bali a week, the risk is huge.

‘If (Agriculture Minister) Murray Watt can’t find the foot baths for Sydney and Melbourne Airport to get the thousands of people coming from Bali and being waived through by security washed down, not just on their feet but their shoes and their backpacks, I am very happy to offer my time on a weekend to hand wash those shoes at the airport myself.’

The offer followed a declaration from Agriculture Minister Murray Watt that a single case of foot and mouth disease could bring Australia’s export industry to a standstill overnight. 

Murray Watt on Wednesday announced further biosecurity measures after viral fragments of the disease and African swine fever were detected in pork products, believed to be imported from China, at a Melbourne retailer.

It’s the first time viral fragments have been detected in a retail setting, Senator Watt said.

Mr Watt said an immediate three-day standstill on livestock movements would be implemented if the disease entered Australia.

Murray Watt (pictured) announced further biosecurity measures after viral fragments of the disease and African swine fever were detected in pork products in Melbourne

‘The reason this would be such a devastating blow is that the rest of the world would treat Australia as having foot and mouth disease, which would pretty much shut down our livestock export industry overnight,’ he told the ABC.

‘But there is a comprehensive plan that’s been developed over a number of years between federal and state governments about how we manage outbreaks (including) movement controls.’

Mr Watt said however, Australia will not yet close the border to Indonesia over the disease.  

Opposition MPs Barnaby Joyce and Karen Andrews have called on the government to close the border to its northern neighbour. 

But the proposed measure has been decried as ‘drastic’ by farming bodies.

Senator Watt slammed the coalition for ‘playing politics’ with the industry, and said a border closure or banned flights were options the current opposition never implemented while in government.

‘We’ve acted as quickly as we possibly can,’ he told Sky News.

Just one case of foot-and-mouth disease could cripple Australia’s export industry. the agriculture minister said

‘As soon as this outbreak got to Bali, I directed my department to start working urgently.’

Senator Watt said there was a ‘well-established plan’ to deal with an outbreak in Australia, but he was confident the disease could be kept out.

‘We have some of the world’s best biosecurity systems,’ he said.

‘We have no plans to close the borders either in Indonesia or to any of the other many countries that have foot and mouth disease.’

An immediate three-day standstill on livestock movements would be implemented if the disease were to reach Australia, Senator Watt said.

A compensation scheme for farmers would also be put in place.

Sanitation mats are being deployed at international airports for travellers from Indonesia to walk over in an effort to stop the disease entering Australia on their shoes.

Meanwhile, the development of a national, mandatory sheep and goat electronic identification system was agreed to by state and territory agriculture ministers at a meeting on Wednesday.

It would allow livestock to be individually traced in the event of an outbreak.

While some jurisdictions had initially resisted the idea, Senator Watt said he was pleased to be able to reach an agreement.

How the tagging system will be funded and rolled out still needs to be decided, the minister said.