Farmers may have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to fight the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis. The government and the farming industry have been locked in debate for weeks over the fairest way to split the cost of tackling the disease. The bill is expected to pass $500 million. Damien O'Connor is Minister of Agriculture and Biosecurity. He confirms to Guyon Espiner that the cost of eradicating mycoplasma bovis could be up to $1 billion, He says he's pushing for the industry to pay 40% of the cost. That would be a cost to farmers of about $400 million.
4 May 2018
