Aust Vet J Vol 80, No 4, April 2002188

News

Australia’s new Emer-gency Animal DiseaseResponse Agreement is

said to be the world’s mostcomprehensive plan for reactingto major animal diseaseoutbreaks.The main feature of theagreement is to set out newcost-sharing arrangements bet-ween governments and live-stock industries, clarifying whopays for what in the event of abig outbreak.“No other country has madesuch a comprehensive commit-ment to protect its livestockindustries, and it will go a longway to ensuring Australiamaintains its hard-won disease-free status,” claimed AgricultureMinister Warren Truss, speak-ing on behalf of the Federalgovernment at the unveiling ofthe agreement in Canberra.While not involved as asignatory to the agreement, theAustralian Veterinary Associ-

ation was represented byNational Veterinarian Dr KevinDoyle on the task force thatnegotiated its terms. Five yearsin the making, the new pactgoverns the control, contain-ment and eradication of 63specific animal diseases, versusthe 12 covered by an earlierlimited arrangement.Diseases are classified into fourcategories, with the split-up ofcosts between governments andindustries depending on thebeneficiary of control asmeasured against the impact onhuman health and socioecon-omic concerns, the environ-ment and livestock production.The categories can be reviewedand new diseases added ascircumstances change.The costs of each party aremanaged by applying an agreedlimit that ensures close exami-nation of costs and benefitsbefore committing furthernational resources. A major foot

and mouth disease outbreakwould be classed as a Category2 disease, with costs splitbetween government andindustry in the ratio 80:20.Maximum industry liabilitywould be 20 per cent of 1 percent of the total gross value ofproduction (averaged over threeyears) of the affected industries.For FMD that meansmaximum liabilities for thecattle industry of $17.14million, sheep/goat industry of$4.79 million, and porkindustry $540,000. These arethe amounts each industrywould be liable to spend tocontain, control and eradicatethe disease. The Federalgovernment will underwritethese costs but would event-ually need to be repaid. Federaland state governments wouldsplit their cost obligations in asimilar way. As well as providing fundingcertainty during the initialstages of an outbreak, theagreement ensures that industrywill be directly involved indecisions on how Australiaresponds to animal diseaseoutbreaks via representation ona committee called the Emer-gency Animal Disease NationalManagement Group (NMG).Technical representa-tives ofeach industry will also sit on aConsultative Com-mittee onEmergency Animal Diseaseswhich will advise the NMG.“Australia’s livestock industriesare a major generator of wealth,contributing more than $16.2billion to the national econ-omy,” said Truss. “They are alsoa significant employer and amajor exporter, contributingsome 30 per cent of ourmerchandise exports and earn-ing Australia $14.7 billion ayear.“The quicker we respond to anoutbreak, the easier it is tominimise the socioeconomicimpacts as well as the effects onproduction, trade, public healthand the environment.”Key livestock industry groupswelcomed the agreement.Acting President of the Cattle

Council of Australia, JohnWyld, said he was pleased thegroundbreaking document hadfinally been ratified. “The clearand concise funding mech-anism provided by the (costsharing) deed quite simply cutsthe administrative red tape andwill allow industry to get onwith the job of managingdisease incursions if and whenthey occur,” Wyld said.“While a previous agreementdid exist, it only covered 12diseases, resulted in fundinguncertainty and the possibilityof delayed action if an unlisteddisease incursion occurred. Thenew agreement is far morecomprehensive, covering 63diseases, 17 of which directlyaffect the beef industry.National Farmers’ Federationpresident Ian Donges saidAustralia had learned manyvaluable lessons from the footand mouth disease outbreak inthe UK last year and many ofthe concerns from that exper-ience were covered in the newagreement. The new agreement refers toexisting standards such as theAustralian Veterinary Emer-gency Plan (AUSVETPLAN)and defines standards fortraining of response personnel,accounting and auditing. It alsorefers to National AnimalHealth Performance Standardsor benchmarks that are beingdeveloped across all sectors ofthe animal health system.Additionally, the agreement islinked to improving biosecuritywithin each industry via aNational Disease Risk Mitiga-tion Program. This involveseach industry party preparingand publicising a plan toimprove on-farm biosecurityarrangements. It encourages theadoption by all producers ofsimple measures to reduce thelikelihood of a serious diseasespreading.In addition, government partieswill prepare statements outlin-ing their biosecurity policiesand programs including feralanimals, public health andenvironmental policies.

Australia lauded for emergency response