​​​Australia is currently free of foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease, and with your help we can keep it that way!

Biosecurity is a shared responsibility, so if you’re going away to, or have family and friends visiting from, an area affected by foot-and-mouth disease, like Indonesia/Bali, it is your responsibility to help protect Tasmania and mainland Australia by knowing and practicing biosecurity basics.

An important Biosecurity Basic​ that will help stop the introduction of diseases like foot-and-mouth disease is COME IN CLEAN. Foot-and-mouth disease can live for extended periods on clothing, shoes and equipment, so it is important travellers clean these items before they travel back to Australia, and then home to Tasmania.

The cleaning of your clothing, shoes, and equipment before departing Indonesia is particularly important if you have been on any farms, have gone hiking or hunting, visited any markets or zoos or have been in any rural areas in Indonesia.

Shoes and boots are potentially primary carriers of disease agents like the foot-and-mouth disease virus. Shake/scrape shoes and boots to remove loose contamination such as soil and manure. You should thoroughly wash soles, laces, velcro and external surfaces using soap/detergent, water and a brush. Dry them well and double check all traces of contamination have been removed. Repeat the procedure if ANY contamination remains visible.

If it is not possible to clean your clothing and equipment before returning – consider leaving those items behind.

On arrival back into Tasmania, remember to present yourself to a Biosecurity Officer and declare that you have travelled from Indonesia/Bali - even if you have been through border security or quarantine on the mainland! Do not enter livestock areas in Tasmania for seven days after returning.

We all have a General Biosecurity Duty to help protect Tasmania from the harmful impacts of pest, weeds and diseases.

Find out more about foot-and-mouth disease on the Biosecurity Tasmania website: www.nre.tas.gov.au/FMD 

The Biosecurity Basics are simple, practical actions and measures that you can take to help protect Tasmania – find out more on the Biosecurity Tasmania website: www.nre.tas.gov.au/biosecuritybasics​