VICTORIA's key livestock organisation has been kept in the dark about new planned rules for Bovine Johne's Disease.
A draft set of proposed rules developed by Animal Health Australia puts Victoria and Tasmania in the highest-risk regions.
Dairying areas in south-east South Australia, the Riverina and other areas of NSW are assessed as lower risk.
The Weekly Times has seen a copy of the proposed framework for the future management of BJD in Australia but the Victorian Farmers Federation was unaware the document existed.
VFF livestock president Chris Nixon said he was angry about the lack of consultation and the new classifications. "If they (AHA) don't want the plan accepted, they've gone the right way about it," he said.
Mr Nixon said the draft plan was unfair to Victorian farmers.
"Diseases don't respect lines on maps or state borders," he said.
Mr Nixon said it did not seem fair that beef farmers in dairying areas such as south-east South Australia, should be considered differently to beef farmers near Warrnambool, another key dairying region.
"You have to question why some areas seem to have received preferential treatment," he said. "There are only 68 beef herds in Australia that have BJD, out of thousands, so we just think this whole thing is insulting."
Mr Nixon said the framework clearly still needed a lot of work.
A spokeswoman for AHA said the revised plan was still being considered by industry. But it was expected to be implemented by July 1.
"It still has to go to Animal Health Committee for ratification," she said. "We expect to release it once it has been to AHC in March."
The Cattle Council of Australia declined to comment, saying it would wait until the plan was signed off.
