INITIAL problems encountered by Kimberley pastoralists preparing for the dry season muster, while abiding by strict State and Federal movement restrictions because of COVID-19, appear to have been resolved.
Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen's Association (KPCA) chief executive officer Emma White said last week that mustering was underway on a number of cattle stations and initial problems getting muster crews and helicopter pilots into the Kimberley from southern Western Australia or Northern Territory and Queensland and across shire boundaries once they were in the Kimberley, have been overcome.
Similarly, early problems for some stock transport drivers attempting to enter the designated Kimberley biosecurity area at the Sandfire roadhouse on the Great Northern Highway between Port Hedland and Broome and on the Victoria Highway at the State border east of Kununurra had been resolved, Ms White said.
Streamlining of approval of a COVID-19 risk management plan down to about three days from applying had simplified and sped up the process of station businesses, mustering contractors, transport companies and others involved in the northern cattle industry applying for the police G2G (Good to Go) app, she said.
Approval of a risk management plan was a separate, but related, requirement to the G2G app or equivalent paper exemption under the Federal Biosecurity Act 2015 from provisions requiring a 14-day self-isolation period before anyone enters the Kimberley, East Pilbara and Ngaanyatjarraku Shire which are WA's designated biosecurity areas, Ms White explained.
Risk management plans - a plan template on the State government COVID-19 website is eight pages long - must be submitted to Dr Charles Watson at WABiosecurityEntryRequest@police.wa.gov.au and approved before evidence of the approved plan can be provided in applications for the G2G app or exemptions signed by biosecurity officers.
"The restrictions were introduced to protect remote indigenous communities from the spread of COVID-19 but they had some unintended consequences for the cattle industry," Ms White said.
"We (KPCA) have been working through them with police and DPIRD (Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development) and they have shown a lot of good will in trying to resolve these issues with us."
"Most of the problems have been with the Commonwealth's biosecurity legislation because it is not just targeted at the Kimberley, it also applies to designated biosecurity areas in the Northern Territory and Queensland as well.
"We've taken a whole of supply chain perspective because there's not much point in resolving issues relating to access for muster teams if we can't get cattle onto live export boats at Broome or Wyndham.
"There's been several shipments out of Broome and one out of Wyndham and a problem with disembarking in the Kimberley for returning stockies looks like it might have been resolved."
Ms White explained that under the biosecurity travel restrictions, Australian stockmen and veterinarians on returning live export vessels had originally faced a 14-day isolation period before they could leave the ship at Broome or Wyndham.
In one example she knew of, Ms White said a returning stockman on a charter vessel was supposed to land at Darwin, but the vessel was diverted to Broome by its operators where it was to immediately enter into another charter with a different live-export operator.
Whether the stockman could leave the vessel at Broome was an issue that appeared to have now been resolved, she said.
"We appear to be over the hump (with problems arising from movement restrictions), there's been a lot of time and effort put into it so now there are just some minor grumbles in individual cases," Ms White said.
"Basically, complying requires a lot of paperwork to be completed beforehand.
"We haven't had a new confirmed case (of COVID-19) in the Kimberley for over a week now so there are some looking towards a pathway out (of restrictions).
"But that might be a harder journey than imposing the restrictions was," she said.