More than a thousand delegates have travelled to Darwin this week, for the 41st Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association conference. Opening this year’s formal program a pre-election pitch from the Coalition to help safeguard the NT’s $1.2 billion dollar beef industry.
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00:00All hats and no cattle, at the biggest industry event on the calendar for the Northern Territory's
00:08pastoralists.
00:09A chance to meet fellow producers from around the country and shape the future of the Territory's
00:151.2 billion dollar beef industry.
00:17You live remote, you know, when do you get the opportunity to come and meet all these
00:20technology providers, hear about what policy is going on, find out what your neighbour's
00:25doing.
00:26For this year, harnessing cutting-edge technology to manage livestock, workshops on rural health
00:32and discussions about ever-looming biosecurity threats, including lumpy skin disease, a highly
00:38infectious virus affecting cattle and buffalo, first detected in Indonesia in 2022.
00:44We are the front line for some of those things that we remain free of currently, like foot
00:48and mouth and lumpy skin, so it's certainly a huge issue for us as an industry.
00:54And beefing up biosecurity is also on the agenda of Shadow Agriculture Minister David
00:58Littleproud, arriving at the conference today with a pre-election pitch to intercept lumpy
01:03skin disease before it arrives on our shores.
01:07With the NTCA and Cattle Australia, we've designed what will be a world-first program,
01:12that we will catch and test insects for the prevalence of lumpy skin disease.
01:18The Coalition also committing to enshrining federal spending on biosecurity into law,
01:24a promise the current Agriculture Minister describes as hollow.
01:28But regardless of who's in power after the federal election, territory pastoralists say
01:33biosecurity should remain front of mind.
01:35If we have a biosecurity incursion, that would completely devastate the industry, so it's
01:40so important that we're having that conversation, investing that money and really making sure
01:45that we're safe and protected.
01:46The 41st NT Cattlemen's Association Conference continues tomorrow.