It seems that Australia has as much hope of keeping foot and mouth offshore as we have had in managing the COVID-19 virus and its variants. We seem to be less good at managing situations than used to be the case because the country is now opened up to the world. We are no longer isolated and protected by distance from other parts of the globe.

Right now mites are ruining apiaries in the Newcastle area of NSW and infections are spreading like wildfire through New South Wales. It won’t be long before other states are impacted by the might and there goes our honey industry along with a lot of agriculture being decimated because pollination can no longer take place.

Here in the Northern Territory we have recurrent outbreaks of banana freckle. I’d be willing to bet that our banana industry here could again be decimated as it was three years ago.

We are increasingly being assaulted by viruses and pests that confront plants, animals and people. We are keen to keep our country free-flowing in terms of the number of visitors coming into the place. It can only be that issues associated with infections continue and that they will increase. To try and protect the place, its plants animals and its people is a battle we are losing.