The Albanese Labor Government has awarded Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) a $300,000 grant for delivery of the Indonesia Biosecurity Support Program.
The program is led by MLA and supports industry cooperation between Australia and Indonesia to strengthen Indonesia's capability to address emergency animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and lumpy skin disease (LSD).
Since the 2022 detection of FMD and LSD in Indonesia, the Albanese Labor Government has worked closely with Indonesia to aid their disease response activities through several targeted measures.
The new grant announced today builds on our Government's strong biosecurity arrangements.
It is on top of more than $1 billion of additional biosecurity funding announced in the 2023 Budget, including $845 million to support operations across the country.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins MP:
"This grant reinforces Australia's commitment to a strong relationship with Indonesia, builds industry partnerships between our countries and enhances animal biosecurity capacity in the face of diseases such as LSD and FMD.
"This grant will help to reduce the risk of emergency animal diseases spreading within Indonesia and regionally, including to Australia.
"The grant will see the delivery of several discrete packages of work, including development of an accreditation framework for feedlots with strong biosecurity practices, support to establish an Indonesian-led feedlot consultancy, and extension of a program for biosecurity improvements into corporate dairies."
Quotes attributable to General Manager for Research Development and Adoption at MLA, Dr Jane Weatherley:
"The grant will allow MLA and our program partner, Ausvet, to continue supporting Indonesia's feedlot and livestock industry.
"MLA's Indonesian Biosecurity Support Program has been on the ground working together with Indonesian feedlots to implement important biosecurity measures since the incursion of LSD and FMD in 2022.
"The program involves on-the-ground support from the Australian red meat industry to strengthen the Indonesian feedlot sector's emergency response. It will also boost the longer-term biosecurity capacity of the Indonesian feedlot sector to continue to operate with minimal supply chain disruption, further enhancing the strong relationship between the livestock sectors of our two countries.
"This grant is an important continuation of an initiative that builds on the success of earlier work and enables us to support improved efficiency and effectiveness and ensure Australian cattle exported to Indonesia remain fit and healthy throughout the supply chain."
