Mr GIBBONS (4:54 PM) —I will give an outline of the causes and the description of the disease, as did the member for Hume. As has been pointed out before, ovine Johne's disease is the description given to sheep suffering from a bacterial infection. The symptoms are a general wasting of infected animals. OJD is often mistaken for a range of other problems like abscess, worms, fluke and dietary deficiency. Losses of up to five per cent have been reported in Australia, and in New Zealand and other countries where the disease is endemic anecdotal evidence is that losses stabilise in the range of one per cent to three per cent per annum.

OJD was first detected in Australia in around 1980 in the central tablelands of New South Wales. It has now been detected in flocks in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. There are reports that many producers are `keeping quiet about the potential presence of OJD because they feared huge trading losses'. Whilst nobody condones that sort of activity, you really cannot blame them for that because some of them are actually facing financial ruin. It seems reasonable to infer that what has been reported is only the tip of the iceberg.

OJD is known to be spread by the ingestion of pasture contaminated with infected faecal matter and is known to be spread by the transport of infected faecal matter in waterways. Young animals are more susceptible, and it appears that they can be infected by the ewe's milk. The bacterium has been reported to persist for longer than one year on the pasture. The question as to whether wildlife can carry OJD remains unanswered, but it is known that bovine Johne's disease, although a strain distinct from OJD, can be carried by sheep.

With present technology it is not possible to reliably diagnose OJD in individual live sheep. If OJD is present, the entire flock is assumed to be infected. Ovine Johne's disease could and will affect the sheepmeat and wool industry in many ways. Some of these are still unknown because there is still much to learn about the disease. The effect on farmers is considerable economic loss because of restrictions on the sale of the sheep. This has the potential to ruin many sheep farmers throughout Australia. Other losses include decreased wool production, lowered reproductive performance and decreased growth. All of these factors have a big impact on the various markets.

I have met with affected farmers in my electorate on two occasions and been given first-hand information on the potential for disaster in the entire region.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Jenkins)—Order! The time for private members business has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting. The honourable member for Bendigo will have leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.