The AUSVETPLAN Technical Review Group held its 49th meeting in Launceston, Tasmania in February 2023 where they discussed strategic items including the AUSVETPLAN workplan for 2023/24, the rapid review process of AUSVETPLAN manuals, operationalising AUSVETPLAN and strategies for improving the effectiveness and efficiency in review or development of manuals.
The AUSVETPLAN TRG plays a key role in AUSVETPLAN by providing technical review of all AUSVETPLAN manuals, prioritising the AUSVETPLAN workplan and ensuring AUSVETPLAN remains fit for purpose and contemporary. The TRG is led by Animal Health Australia (AHA) emergency preparedness staff and is made up of technical experts from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, each of the state and territory governments and the CSIRO.
At this meeting the AUSVETPLAN TRG discussed:
Strategic items including:
- the AUSVETPLAN workplan for 2023/24
- the rapid review process of AUSVETPLAN manuals, reflecting on reviews of the AUSVETPLAN Response strategy: Foot-and-mouth disease and AUSVETPLAN Response strategy: Lumpy skin disease
- capturing the rationale for recommendations or decisions made through writing groups, the AUSVETPLAN TRG and other inputs
- strategies for improving the effectiveness and efficiency in review or development of manuals
- identifying where new or novel resources (e.g. useful documents) should reside within AUSVETPLAN
- operationalising AUSVETPLAN
Manual Reviews including:
- next steps with respect to outcomes from Exercise Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) 2
- next steps on reflection of the recent Japanese encephalitis and avian influenza responses
- progress on the AUSVETPLAN Response strategy: Foot-and-mouth disease, AUSVETPLAN Operational manual: Wild Animal Response Strategy and development of a resource document for abattoir biosecurity controls for African swine fever
- how AUSVETPLAN can address some of the concerns around the security sensitive biological agents (SSBA) regulatory scheme
- policy development for management of diseases where vaccine could be utilised and steps to be taken to progress vaccine acquisition.
Key outputs from TRG49 were:
- a TRG-agreed AUSVETPLAN workplan that is to be shared with Animal Health Committee (AHC) for their comment and endorsement
- a draft revised approvals process for rapid AUSVETPLAN manual review, for inclusion in the AUSVETPLAN Overview manual
- confirmation that some elements of the SSBA regulatory scheme will be worked into the current review of the AUSVETPLAN Management manual: Laboratory preparedness
- gaining a greater understanding of the activities under Animalplan, the Sub-committee on Emergency Animal Diseases (SCEAD), TRG, AHA and other parties or initiatives that contribute to or support the operationalisation of AUSVETPLAN.
Support for:
- AHA’s strategies for improving the effectiveness and efficiency in review or development of manuals with respect to membership of writing or working groups
- a documented risk-based approach to prioritisation of manual reviews and therefore the work of all parties involved (AHA, writing groups, working groups, TRG, Industry Forum and AHC)
- an approach to updating the AUSVETPLAN Response strategy: Lumpy skin disease following review of the Exercise LSD2 report
- taking the work of the pork industry forward in the development of a resource document for abattoir biosecurity controls for African swine fever.
The TRG is due to meet again in April virtually and in-person again in July 2023.