Australian and Queensland governments working together to respond to white spot outbreak

The Commonwealth and Queensland governments today reaffirmed their shared commitment to support prawn farmers impacted by White Spot virus and pledged to continue to work together to eradicate the disease.

Commonwealth Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Anne Ruston, and Queensland Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Bill Byrne, stated that dealing with the outbreak was one of the highest priorities for both governments.

“Minister Byrne and I have had extensive face to face discussions on the best way forward for the Queensland prawn industry,” Senator Ruston said.

“On our visits to the farms on the Logan River, we have both been struck by the determination and resilience of the farmers and we appreciate the need to maintain the closest co-operation to do all that is possible to get them back into production at the earliest opportunity.

“Minister Byrne and I have seen first-hand just how devastating this outbreak has been”, she said

Despite the tireless work that has been undertaken, it is disappointing that all prawn farms with stock on the Logan River have tested positive for the disease”, said Minister Byrne

“Our government remains focussed on working with the affected prawn farmers to a state where they could recommence production later this year if they so chose to,” Minister Byrne said.

Both Ministers stressed their commitment to reach agreement with the industry on financial assistance.

Minister Byrne said the Queensland Government committed in early December to reimburse prawn farmers for the costs they incurred under direction of Biosecurity Queensland, which has led the biosecurity response.

“There has been a very significant effort to date. The Queensland Government has spent approximately $4.4 million and expects to spend an additional $12 million during the first half of 2017 on a response which has involved up to 100 biosecurity officers,” said Minister Byrne.

“The Australian Government has provided the state government and industry with up to $1.74 million to help with costs incurred dealing with the outbreak response and to also help with biosecurity preparedness for future risks – with $400,000 of that money going directly to the farmers to assist with some of their costs”, Minister Ruston said.

The national Aquatic Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases remains of the view that the disease can be eradicated.

“From day one Biosecurity Queensland has worked in close co-operation with the national committee and at every stage the response has been approved and endorsed by national experts including the Australian Chief Veterinary Officer, state and territory chief veterinary officers or directors of fisheries, representatives of the Federal Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory.

“We will continue our close co-operation until this matter is resolved,” said Minister Byrne

The Ministers urged all producers in Queensland to ensure they had the most stringent biosecurity arrangements in place and asked recreational fishers to refrain from using green prawns as bait.

White spot disease is a highly contagious disease of prawns and other crustaceans, but presents no risk to humans.

For more information on response activities, visit the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries website​.​

Media: Senator Ruston 0472 867 599; Minister Byrne 0448 994 172

ENDS