The federal government has unveiled $14 million in funding to address the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Indonesia, with border closures ruled out but stricter security for some airport passengers.

After returning from Indonesia, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt told Liam Bartlett on 6PR Mornings travellers could expect heightened biosecurity measures when travelling to and from places including Bali.

“In recognition that not everyone does declare, we’ve launched new targeted operations where we will randomly select in-bound flights from Indonesia and every single passenger will be fully screened,” he told Bartlett on Friday.

“This means they’ll be questioned, they’ll have their luggage examined and X-rayed, they’ll have their shoes cleaned.

Watt said people arriving from places like Bali will be profiled as high-risk passengers, with sniffer dogs to examine luggage and shoe cleaning available for people who had come into contact with livestock.

“They took my shoes off for cleaning this morning, they deemed me a high-risk person,” he said.

Other passengers will be checked at random, with an outbreak in Australia estimated to potentially cost the economy $80 billion.

“Importantly for WA, we’re going to be appointing a northern Australia coordinator to urgently improve our surveillance and preparedness across the north of WA,” Watt said.

Tap PLAY to hear Watt detail the airport checks with Liam

Image: Agriculture Minister Murray Watt (right) with Indonesian counterpart Syahrul Yasin Limpo