FMD political point scoring dominates new parliament's first day

THE Nationals called on the government to table all its departmental advice on foot and mouth disease, as the response to the Indonesian outbreak descended into blame and accusations from both sides of politics.

FMD took up the majority of the new government's first Senate question time, with the Opposition slamming Labor's "insipid response" as too slow and lacking transparency, while the government accused the Coalition of fuelling hysteria.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt was pressed multiple times throughout the disorderly question time, and was met with a wave of interjections every time he responded, led by Nationals leader in the Senate Bridget McKenzie, shouting for the Indonesia border to be closed.

Senator Watt said on average 23,000 passengers were returning from Indonesia every week, 90 per cent of which were travelling from Bali.

"We are seeing an increased level of compliance from passengers," Senator Watt said.

"Which means they are listening to the accurate non-alarmist advice of this government, as opposed to the alarmist rhetoric coming from the Opposition, which has been rejected resoundingly by the industry."

Senator Watt said the Coalition had not increased biosecurity measures or called for border closures when there were FMD outbreaks in Vietnam, China, Malaysia and South Africa during its time in government.

"What hurts our agriculture industry is the hysteria we continue to see on display from the Opposition on this very issue," he said.

Nationals Senator Perin Davey rejected "the claims we are fear mongering" and highlighted the estimated $80-billion hit agriculture would take if FMD got into the country.

"[Labor] claims we're impacting negatively on our trade markets - well it would be far more serious if this disease actually encroaches our borders," Senator Davey said.

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Despite the rowdy posturing, very little new information was revealed as both sides tried to politically one-up each other.

Following question time, the Opposition moved a motion for the government to produce all documents regarding the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Indonesia by next week, which was passed by the Senate.

"We want to understand what the risk level is and at what point, predicated on science, we'll need stronger international border measures," Senator Davey said.

The agriculture industry has overwhelmingly shot down any suggestion of closing the border due to the damage it would cause to trading relations.

The Nationals have put forward contradicting messages about the Indonesia border - some have ignored the agriculture sector by calling for flights to Indonesia to be suspended, while others claim they merely want to know at what point a border closure would be considered.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt and the Chief Veterinary Officer held an open briefing for all MPs, Senators and their staff on Wednesday, which was attended by several Coalition politicians.