Author: Ian McDonald
April 5th saw the 2023 National Biosecurity Forum take place in Canberra with around 150 attending the in-person event and more than 350 attendees tuning in online. The recordings from the event will be made available soon, but have yet to be released on the DAFF website.
A key take home message was the Minister for Agriculture continuing to push in his speech that we really need sustainable investment for our biosecurity system, and this is something our current Government is very keen on ensuring. This is something which Animal Health Australia and many organisations have been promoting for many years so excellent to hear the Minister support this so avidly. You can read his full transcript here.
Myself and Kathleen Plowman attended the forum in person on behalf of AHA and our roles sitting on the National Biosecurity Committee (NBC) and National Biosecurity Communications and Engagement Network (NBCEN). It was so great to representation from our member organisations also such as the Dairy and Cattle industries, with Jo Coombes, Justin Toohey, Mike Darby and Mary Wu the newly appointed CEO OF Australian Chicken Meat Federation (ACMF) and Chair of AHA Industry Forum, all who attended in person, alongside numerous Chief Vets, Chief Biosecurity Officers, and other key animal health government specialists from the jurisdictions and Australian Government.
The Forum focused largely on the themes of the National Biosecurity Strategy – looking at opportunities and challenges around the system, innovation and tech, how to form stronger partnerships and sharing in the culture and discussing new pathways that invasive species could enter our borders.
It contained a series of panels and presentations, and the recent and ongoing outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Indonesia was certainly a focal point of many of the discussions particularly with Dr Mark Schipp (the Australian Chief Vet) noting that it is now declared endemic in Indonesia and that our continued support to Indonesia would be now more like a “marathon not a sprint” to ensure Australia remains FMD free.
Importantly it was noted the risk of FMD, Lumpy Skin disease or African Swine Fever to Australia has not dramatically changed and our strong and strict biosecurity measures remain in place, and our support to Indonesia to tackle the outbreak continues. The key messages around being ‘alert but not alarmed’ was very much still being pushed.
Dr Schipp also noted that outbreaks across the globe are becoming more frequent and more complex (the current avian influenza outbreak in the US is evidence of this) and the Government continues to work with colleagues from other countries to monitor outbreaks and allocate support and resources as required to protect Australia. It was noted that the outbreaks overseas are a major opportunity to push biosecurity awareness and responsibilities to all Australians and with a crisis can come an opportunity to further promote this important topic.
Another key topic which was raised was our ability to respond and support a large-scale disease outbreak. The idea of volunteer biosecurity officers was raised, similar to how you can get trained to be a volunteer for the state emergency service (SES) for natural disasters. It was suggested that while we know everyone has a role to play in our biosecurity system, some may have more of a hands on roll and for this it would need public awareness, training and coordination. This was an intriguing thought and would be great to see implemented.
Dr Brant Smith, the Assistant Secretary of the Animal Biosecurity Division of DAFF did note that future proofing our biosecurity system remained an important goal, noting that 72% of our ag products are exported so if we lost market access it would be detrimental to the industries across the board. He also noted the importance of ‘evidence of absence’ and collecting samples to show we don’t have a disease or virus is just as vital for testing suspect samples.
Our own Kathleen Plowman sat on an afternoon panel with PHA CEO Sarah Corcoran and DAFF trade specialist Lee Cale who discussed how we expand our networks internally at the regional level but also at the international level as well. Kathleen continued to push the importance of bringing corporate Australia into the mix of those who have a role to play within biosecurity, and that biosecurity in the boardroom should be as big a discussion point as climate change, cyber security and human health.
She reiterated how biosecurity underpins food security and without a strong biosecurity system, it could start to impact the supply chains in many ways.
To finish off, I also can’t go past Richard Swain who was representing the Invasive Species Council who sat on a panel around the impact of invasive species on biodiversity. Richard left us with some compelling thoughts around how we should really be in the ‘Decade of Healing our Country” and without the appropriate resources to manage our existing environmental pests and diseases, this will ultimately impact all of us, and our way of life. A great message to end the Forum on for all of us to consider our role in caring for our country.
The main messages from the Forum were drawn live by Cartoonist Chris Wilson who also happens to work for DAFF during his day job.