Foot and mouth – export losses of $14.3 billion a year give govt good cause to commit to stamping out any incursion
We were troubled – briefly – at the prospect of politicians never saying anything improper, outrageous or untoward.
Wouldn’t that give us that much less fodder for the writers who are published on this blog?
But we had misread the headline – Government commits to ‘stamping out’ foot and mouth disease.
The critical word was “and” – not “in”.
But our next thought was to wonder if Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard (a splendid fellow, in our experience) had not put his foot in things.
How could the government commit to stamping out something that this country does have?
At least, we didn’t have it last time we checked on what pests are bugging our biosecurity authorities nowadays.
Maybe the first paragraph of the statement will clarify matters:
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says that a new economic impact analysis report reinforces this government’s commitment to ‘stamp out’ any New Zealand foot and mouth disease incursion.
It looks like the Government is determined to stamp out something – foot and mouth disease – if it ever gets here.
Of course, the objective should be to ensure it never gets anywhere near here in the first place.
And it seems that’s what Hoggard believes, too.
The final paragraph of his statement says:
“The best way to manage any incursion is to keep unwanted pests and diseases out in the first place which is why the Government is committed to maintaining a strong border, and robust biosecurity systems.”
It’s worth noting that Prime Minster Christopher Luxon is in South Korea.
In May last year South Korean authorities ordered the culling of several hundred cattle and implemented biosecurity measures after confirming cases of – guess what?
Yes – foot and mouth disease in farms in a central province.
That country seems to be prone to reporting food and mouth outbreaks, because the cases last year marked the first confirmed outbreak since January 2019.
We haven’t checked, but we understand the PM didn’t venture beyond Seoul.
After his meeting with the President Yoon Suk Yeol he issued a somewhat brief statement:
“Korea and New Zealand are likeminded democracies and natural partners in the Indo Pacific. As such, we have decided to advance discussions on elevating the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which recognises the close ties that stem from more than sixty years of diplomatic relations,” Mr Luxon says.
The two leaders agreed to take the relationship forward across defence and security, trade, people-to-people and multilateral areas.
“I look forward to continued growth in our trade relationship and was pleased to announce that we will explore the possibility of an upgrade to our bilateral Free Trade Agreement,” Mr Luxon says.
Mr Luxon’s visit to Korea continues tomorrow, with a busy schedule of defence, trade promotion and investment focused engagements.
You will learn much more from the joint statement which followed the meeting.
It is included in the latest batch of ministerial posts on the government’s official website:
The critical word was “and” – not “in”.
But our next thought was to wonder if Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard (a splendid fellow, in our experience) had not put his foot in things.
How could the government commit to stamping out something that this country does have?
At least, we didn’t have it last time we checked on what pests are bugging our biosecurity authorities nowadays.
Maybe the first paragraph of the statement will clarify matters:
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says that a new economic impact analysis report reinforces this government’s commitment to ‘stamp out’ any New Zealand foot and mouth disease incursion.
It looks like the Government is determined to stamp out something – foot and mouth disease – if it ever gets here.
Of course, the objective should be to ensure it never gets anywhere near here in the first place.
And it seems that’s what Hoggard believes, too.
The final paragraph of his statement says:
“The best way to manage any incursion is to keep unwanted pests and diseases out in the first place which is why the Government is committed to maintaining a strong border, and robust biosecurity systems.”
It’s worth noting that Prime Minster Christopher Luxon is in South Korea.
In May last year South Korean authorities ordered the culling of several hundred cattle and implemented biosecurity measures after confirming cases of – guess what?
Yes – foot and mouth disease in farms in a central province.
That country seems to be prone to reporting food and mouth outbreaks, because the cases last year marked the first confirmed outbreak since January 2019.
We haven’t checked, but we understand the PM didn’t venture beyond Seoul.
After his meeting with the President Yoon Suk Yeol he issued a somewhat brief statement:
“Korea and New Zealand are likeminded democracies and natural partners in the Indo Pacific. As such, we have decided to advance discussions on elevating the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which recognises the close ties that stem from more than sixty years of diplomatic relations,” Mr Luxon says.
The two leaders agreed to take the relationship forward across defence and security, trade, people-to-people and multilateral areas.
“I look forward to continued growth in our trade relationship and was pleased to announce that we will explore the possibility of an upgrade to our bilateral Free Trade Agreement,” Mr Luxon says.
Mr Luxon’s visit to Korea continues tomorrow, with a busy schedule of defence, trade promotion and investment focused engagements.
You will learn much more from the joint statement which followed the meeting.
It is included in the latest batch of ministerial posts on the government’s official website:
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In his statement about food and mouth disease, Andrew Hoggard referred to a new analysis, produced by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.
This shows an incursion of the disease in New Zealand would have dramatic impacts,
“… with an immediate halt to most exports of animal products and a potential and ongoing drop in export values of around $14.3 billion a year.”
Hoggard said “immediate and decisive action will be required if an outbreak occurred”.
That’s why Cabinet has endorsed an approach of urgent eradication, along with the use of vaccination if appropriate.
The Ministry for Primary Industries presented three management options for consideration –‘stamping out’ the disease, with the possible use of emergency vaccination for short-term containment as needed;
managing an outbreak over a longer period using vaccination; or
living with the disease.
“The evidence clearly supported ‘stamping out’ the disease, either with or without emergency vaccination.”
Using emergency vaccination would take around 10 months to achieve, cost around $1.9 billion in operating costs and compensation, and see a one-off $8.4 billion impact on the economy in lost trade.
The option to stamp out without vaccination would take 15 months, cost $2.98 billion and carry a $15.3 billion dollar loss of trade.
Living with the disease would have an ongoing annual economic impact of $14.3 billion.
Hoggard has released the economic analysis report and the Cabinet Paper on the initial strategic response to enable people to understand the impacts of foot and mouth disease and the importance of keeping it out of the country and preparing to effectively manage it if it occurred.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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