For many thousands of years, the continental isolation of our island had quarantined the indigenous flora and fauna from any of the worst effects of invasion by foreign species detrimental to their insular existence.
Even the landing of convicts and marines from the First Fleet in Port Jackson in 1788 didn't really upset the delicate ecological balance which had been preserved for millennia.
Not unnaturally, further imports of animals and plants by immigrants from the British Isles and Europe, did have a profound influence on the landscape.
Keen to transport their Northern Hemisphere way of live to the southern continent, the introduction of foxes, rabbits, cats, lantana and blackberries, among many others, have reeked untold damage to a previously pristine environment.
It is a matter of record, the damage done by those imports continues to present difficulties for landholders and governmental agencies determined to limit the historical imbalance.
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Large animals and plants can be controlled to a certain degree, but the introduction of insects and viruses, no matter how inadvertent they may have been, are not so easily contained.
Witness the most recent threat to our landscape, and by extension, our own livelihoods - the threat to our bees by the Varroa mite.
It is an outbreak which threatens the 70 million dollar industry, and authorities are gripped by the need to control the spread.
I am really scared and not sure if the government is taking it seriously enough.
- Paul Northey, Innisfail, Weethalle
But the presence in this country of the Varroa mite should be, and is, of major concern to everyone.
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Not least are those livestock producers across the country who are rightly anxious about the possibility of introduction of foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease, recently detected in Indonesia.
And while governmental agencies are on high alert against any such import, the quick response to limiting the spread of the Varroa mite might give livestock producers some confidence.
The fear is, of course, that with such a large population of feral animals across the country, foot and mouth might not be easily contained once the disease is here.
Social media is rampant with posts advising of the potential devastation and imploring people to be careful.
In comments posted by Barnaby Joyce, he wrote that "the new federal minister Senator Murray Watt has done little to nothing when you reflect on the actual gravitas of the threat".
Well Mr Joyce, you were in government for the past decade, so why wasn't the possibility taken more seriously under your watch.
But this is an issue which should transcend the petty bickering of politicians in a narrow orbit, and Paul Northey agrees that it should not become a political football.
Mr Northey runs 6000 Merino breeding ewes in a self-replacing flock on Innisfail at Weethalle.
"It's a case of 'not if but when'," the fourth-generation farmer said.
He is rightly concerned for his future and his families livelihood if foot and mouth does enter the country.
"I am really scared and not sure if the government is taking it seriously enough," he said.
"We have had a few issues and I think the security in Darwin and Cairns should be upgraded immediately."
Mr Northey thinks everyone who comes into Australia should be disinfected no matter the place they had come from.
"This disease will cripple us overnight," he said.
"Australia is one of few countries that can export meat in large amounts and if foot and mouth was to come in, the whole country will be devastated.
"It won't just be the farming families, everyone who lives here will be affected."
With the large population of feral animals, most notably wild pigs, breeding uncontrolled throughout the country, if foot and mouth did enter the country and infected those undomesticated pigs, we may as well close shop.
"I don't think we would ever be able to control it," Mr Northey said.
"Prevention is better than cure, but we must act immediately to stop it from coming in."
During the recent Merino Sheep Show at Hay, which Mr Northey attended assisting his daughter Emma compete in the flock ewe section, many of the leading studs in Australia had their sheep on display.
"All of those wonderful genetics so carefully bred for generations would be lost if the sheep had to be destroyed because of foot and mouth," he said.
"Just try and imagine the heartbreak, the terrible toll on peoples' health, if that were to happen.
"I don't think the country would ever recover."
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