New South Wales Liaison – Livestock Industry Workshop
In February, the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and Animal Health Australia (AHA) delivered a Liaison-Livestock Industry (LLI) workshop in Orange.
Jo Coombe (NSW Chief Veterinary Officer) thanked AHA for facilitating the workshop and reminded participants of the importance of bringing AHA, Peak Industry Bodies, and government response personnel together. Biosecurity is a shared responsibility across our community and coming together strengthens our Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) response preparedness. The workshop also importantly offered an opportunity to forge strong relationships across the sector, creating a unified front against the threats of EADs.
National Biosecurity Response Team Induction
Members of the National Biosecurity Response Team (NBRT) participated in a virtual induction webinar, marking the start of their tenure period. The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and AHA welcomed members to the webinar, which aimed to enhance their understanding of the NBRT program, its purpose, and governance arrangements.
The webinar allowed new members to interact and connect with each other and provided the opportunity to meet their jurisdiction’s advisory group representative. The members also heard from NBRT alumni Kirsten Phillips (Queensland) and Jamie Maddocks (NSW), who discussed their experiences being part of the NBRT and shared advice on how to gain the most from the program.
“There are a lot of great connections that you can make through NBRT to explore opportunities to share work, share learnings, and potentially collaborate on projects nationally” – K Phillips
“Working with those highly experienced IMTs just gave me that confidence and that self-belief, that I could fill the IMT role” – J Maddocks
Overall, there were a lot of valuable conversations held during the webinar and enthusiasm to be part of the cohort. Next up for the NBRT members is the first professional development week to be held in Sydney from 12-16 of May 2025.