Latest Articles

For previous years’ media releases, please visit the Media release archive.

New online course on plant biosecurity in Australia

July 22, 2020

Plant Health Australia (PHA) has launched a new online course on the fundamentals of plant biosecurity in Australia.

The new course is called Plant Biosecurity in Australia and replaces the old PHA Foundation Course.

The content of the old course was completely refreshed to keep up with an evolving Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed and the needs of plant biosecurity stakeholders. More

Plant Health Australia welcomes new CEO Sarah Corcoran

July 13, 2020

In early July, Sarah Corcoran commenced as CEO of Plant Health Australia (PHA), the national coordinator of the government-industry partnership on plant biosecurity.

PHA Chair, Steve McCutcheon, said Sarah was awarded the position in April following a rigorous recruitment process undertaken by the PHA Board. More

We need your weevils: survey to measure phosphine resistance in grain storages

July 9, 2020

As part of a continuing, national effort to measure the resistance of insects in stored grain to phosphine, the Victoria’s Grains Biosecurity Officer, Jim Moran, wants to visit farms to collect insects in and around grain storages.

The project is funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation via grain grower levies and will benchmark the distribution of insect resistance to phosphine around Australia. More

New tools to help seasonal workers be biosecurity aware

July 3, 2020

Plant Health Australia (PHA) has produced a video and fact sheet in nine languages to raise awareness amongst transient farm workers of the simple things they can do to reduce their risk of spreading plant pests and diseases.

Transient workers are a crucial part of the workforce for many farm businesses but bringing workers onto farm, from overseas or other parts of Australia, can pose a biosecurity risk. More

The state of plant biosecurity in Australia

July 2, 2020

The National Plant Biosecurity Status Report for 2019 was released this week by Plant Health Australia (PHA), bringing together contributions from over 100 government, industry and research organisations.

PHA publishes the report annually to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of plant biosecurity in Australia in the previous calendar year. More