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  4. 4 May 2005

Cattle Tick Management

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About this Item
SubjectsRural Industry; Pests; Cattle
SpeakersGeorge Mr Thomas; Newell Mr Neville; Acting-Speaker (Mr John Mills)
BusinessMatter of Public Importance


    CATTLE TICK MANAGEMENT
Page: 15595


    Matter of Public Importance

    Mr THOMAS GEORGE (Lismore) [4.52 p.m.]: I wish to debate the management of ticks in New South Wales. The Minister for Primary Industries in the other place said that the tick fever problems being experienced in this State are a beat-up by The Nationals, and particularly by the honourable member for Lismore—me. We have had tick fever breakouts in the northern rivers region, both at Carool and at Woodenbong in the old Kareela area. We have in place an 80-year-old tick program. Government and cattle producers in the northern rivers region have co-operated to protect the rest of the State from tick fever and tick infestations.

    Recently we saw a breakdown of that system. Minister Hallam dismantled that program in the 1980s and we are still suffering the consequences. The Labor Party is responsible for the current tick fever problems. I am pleased that the honourable member for Tweed is in the Chamber. On Wednesday evening and Thursday evening last week I convened two public meetings. I have received phone calls, emails and faxes from cattle producers in the northern rivers region expressing concern about tick outbreaks and infestations. They want to know what to expect in the future. Approximately 130 producers attended the meeting that was convened in the Tweed area. The organisers were shocked that so many people in the area attended the meeting.

    Four motions were moved at the Murwillumbah meeting. Producers called on the Minister for Primary Industries to establish an adequate buffer zone to be negotiated with producers. They also called on the Minister not to allow the use of vaccine on cattle except for the express purpose of moving stock into affected areas in Queensland. That is the current policy today. It is of paramount importance to producers that the Minister should not allow the use of vaccine. Producers called on the Minister not to allow the movement of cattle from Queensland onto New South Wales properties unless they were blood tested and free of tick organisms. However, cattle going direct to slaughter are to be exempted.

    Producers also moved a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Primary Industries and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries for continuing to pursue their present policies relating to the cattle tick program. Those motions were fully supported by every person at that meeting. On the next night a meeting was held in Casino, and approximately 150 producers attended. The same motions were moved at that meeting and they were unanimously supported, with the exception of one member of the tick advisory committee. Producers called on the Minister for Primary Industries to pay for the full cost of chemicals being used on properties under quarantine. It was evident at both meetings that manned border surveillance was required from Killarney to the Tweed, as present surveillance measures are not working.

    As I said, cattle producers have co-operated with the department over a number of years to reduce the size of the buffer zone. In the 1980s, 25 per cent of the agricultural budget in New South Wales was spent on the tick control program. The Department of Primary Industries now has a reduced budget, and the Chairman of the Board of Tick Control announced at the meeting that 1 per cent of the department's budget is now being spent on tick control. The Government has cut back funding for this program. It has taken short cuts, reduced the buffer zone and lessened border surveillance. As a result we are now seeing tick infestation and tick fever in these areas.

    Last Wednesday on ABC's Country Hour the Minister for Primary Industries answered a few criticisms levelled at him and his department by Mr Colin Brooks, a cattle producer in the Tweed, who chaired the Wednesday night meeting in Murwillumbah. I have been concerned about this issue for two years and I have referred to this problem in the House. Producers are concerned about the use of tick vaccine in New South Wales. The cattle producers whose livelihoods are affected do not want the vaccine to be used. I have been told that the board has recommended to the Minister the use of the vaccine, but board members assure me that they have not done so. They told me they had to vote on the issue with no notice and that although they opposed the proposal the vaccine's use was recommended to the Minister anyway.

    Board members told local producers who rang them for advice that they had been gagged and could not discuss the issue. I told John Williams, the Chairman of the Board of Tick Control, that I intended to call a meeting and I invited him and Peter McGregor to talk to producers about the issue because board members could not discuss it. The Minister has refuted the gagging claim. Four board members attended the meeting on Thursday night in Casino. One member said that board members had not been gagged and prevented from discussing the issue. However, another said, "Yes, we have been gagged; I don't know where that bloke was at the meeting", and the other two members present did not disagree with that person. I am proud of those members for making that admission. We have been blaming the board for recommending use of the vaccine, but during the radio interview the Minister stated clearly that none other than the honourable member for Tweed had suggested its use to him. I am absolutely disgusted that a gentleman who is involved with cattle producers in the Tweed and Richmond areas—

    Mr Neville Newell: I hope you've got your quote right.

    Mr THOMAS GEORGE: I have a tape of the interview, which I will play to you. That is what the Minister said: the honourable member for Tweed suggested the use of the vaccine. He should be absolutely ashamed of himself. Our livelihoods are at stake, not his. He should stand up for cattle producers in his electorate.

    Mr NEVILLE NEWELL (Tweed—Parliamentary Secretary) [5.02 p.m.]: If the Minister for Primary Industries said that, I will ask him to retract the statement because it is not correct. This is an important issue and I thank the honourable member for Lismore for raising it in this place and giving me the opportunity to speak to it. The vaccine debate came to a head recently when the Board of Tick Control approached the Minister to alter regulations with regard to current control measures under the cattle tick program.

    I will discuss some aspects of the biology and epidemiology of the disease so that honourable members can understand the issue better. The beef and dairy cattle industries in tick-affected areas are worth about $2 billion in New South Wales and Queensland. They are critical industries and the Government must do all it can to protect them. The honourable member for Lismore and past Agriculture Ministers have pointed out that the tick control program has been in place for a long time. The program has had some changes, particularly in the past 10 years, that have enabled many properties to be removed from quarantine and declared tick free. Such properties are no longer subject to the restrictions imposed upon properties that remain within the quarantine area in the far north of the State.

    The problem is not so much with the cattle ticks—although, like bush ticks and paralysis ticks, they can weaken the animals and cause lack of thrift and even death if they ingest enough blood—but with the disease they transmit. This is commonly referred to as tick fever or red water. Several other diseases cause symptoms similar to red water. The Board of Tick Control recently voted, four members to three, to recommend to the Minister a change in the regulations governing the use of the vaccine, which is currently restricted in New South Wales. It is a live vaccine that is used to treat animals that are at risk or are about to be exported to tick areas in southern Queensland. Immunity takes three or four weeks to develop after vaccination, which gives the animals some protection.

    The Board of Tick Control recommended—the vote was four to three so the result was certainly not unanimous—that the vaccine be made generally available in New South Wales when there is an outbreak of red water. Cattle tick outbreaks in this State are generally contained within a small area and tick infestations are picked up via surveillance as cattle move through the stockyards. I share the concern expressed by the honourable member for Lismore and producers about the general use of the vaccine, even in areas where cattle tick outbreaks have occurred. Cattle ticks transmit red water when they engorge on the blood of cattle. Cattle ticks are vectors of the disease through their egg and nymph stages. If there were no ticks the disease could not be transmitted.

    Not many animals in New South Wales carry the Babesia bovis blood parasite that causes the disease, but two outbreaks of red water or tick fever have occurred in the past two months. A chemical is used in Queensland to control and treat tick fever, and animals that are raised in areas where the vaccine is used generally develop some natural immunity to the disease. Such cattle obviously cost more to produce. New South Wales producers are concerned because dairy and beef cattle on the North Coast have virtually no natural immunity to the organism that causes tick fever, and the use of vaccine exposes entire herds to the disease. The additional cost is another factor.

    At present tick fever is controlled by the use of dips and sprays that remove ticks from the animals and by surveillance that ensures that infected animals do not leave affected properties. Today the Minister announced in the other place that an inquiry will be established to address concerns about tick fever. He said that a former member for Orange and a former Minister in Coalition governments, Mr Garry West, will conduct the inquiry into the potential use of cattle tick vaccine for emergency control only, the introduction of Queensland cattle into New South Wales, the possibility of using electronic surveillance to enhance existing border control measures, and the advisory mechanisms into the State Government. I ask honourable members opposite to have confidence in Mr West, a former member of their own party, conducting the inquiry. As he comes from Orange he will no doubt have a close affinity with some of the agricultural scientists who will be advising him.

    On behalf of my dairy and beef cattle producers, I ask the honourable member for Lismore to ensure that Mr West—I have not met him, but I am sure that, as a former Minister, he has some ability—does not get duchessed by too many of those other agricultural scientists in Orange. Please ensure that he is not a member of the same golf club and cannot be got at, so that he conducts an independent inquiry. It has been pointed out to me that the Minister now claims that I suggested using the tick vaccine. I thank the honourable member for Lismore for his misinformation. I will certainly listen to the radio to ascertain how he got it wrong and I expect a correction from him in that regard.

    For the benefit of Mr Garry West, the concerns of farmers are that if we are going to use the vaccine to control outbreaks of at-risk cattle—I am not suggesting I agree with it—why use it for at-risk cattle in New South Wales herds when it takes three to four weeks for the vaccine to provide immunity? Why not use present chemicals such as Imizol, which is used in Queensland to treat animals? I understand that the danger of introducing the live vaccine into that herd is that over time it will gradually increase the number of animals that have been exposed to the Babesia bovis organism. It could build to the point that New South Wales will have to use it. I agree with the point made by the honourable member for Lismore that we need to look very closely at restrictions on imported cattle into New South Wales.

    Mr THOMAS GEORGE (Lismore) [5.12 p.m.], in reply: The Minister referred to this matter as a beat-up by The Nationals, so it is ironic that today he has announced an inquiry into tick fever which will cover the points I listed in the meeting last week. It could not have been a beat-up for him to react in that way. I am proud that when the Government wants a good job done it appoints someone from The Nationals; it should continue to do that. I will repeat what the Minister said about the honourable member for Tweed outside the House this afternoon so that he may take whatever action he wants. The honourable member for Tweed is saying untruths. I have a tape of the ABC Country Hour in which Minister Macdonald said it was suggested by the honourable member for Tweed, Neville Newell. The honourable member for Tweed will hear it on Monday morning when he speaks to the producers at his office. The tape was played at the meeting the other night and I have no doubt about what the Minister clearly said.

    Mr Neville Newell: Point of order: In terms of honesty in this debate I have made it clear to honourable members opposite that if the Minister said that I will ask him to retract it. I also point out that my advice is that he did not say that.

    Mr ACTING-SPEAKER (Mr John Mills): Order! I have heard enough.

    Mr THOMAS GEORGE: And if I am wrong, I will retract it. The honourable members who represent the electorates of Clarence, Ballina and Coffs Harbour want to be involved in this matter because the problem has extended down the coast. None of us want to go back to the old system. No-one in this House has crown branded and dipped more cattle than I have, and I certainly do not want to go back to the old system. I agree that we should not use the vaccine, because it will create a domino effect in this State. We have heard about the four-three vote on the recommendation to the Minister and now I want to know the names of the board members who supported using the vaccine.

    Discussion concluded.

    Pursuant to sessional orders business interrupted.


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