The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council (AHBIC) and PHA, with assistance from Australia’s Bee Biosecurity Officers and original funding from AgriFutures Australia, have developed the Biosecurity for Beekeepers course.

The course is designed for people who have a basic understanding of beekeeping practices and who would like to learn more about protecting their bees from pests and diseases.

Supporting the Australian Honey Bee Industry Biosecurity Code of Practice, completing this course is one way to meet the training requirement of the Code. All beekeepers are encouraged to complete the course, which is now free for beekeepers based in Australia, thanks to funding from AHBIC and the Australian state and territory governments.

Learn more.

A collaboration between PHA, Citrus Australia, the Northern Territory Department of Industry Tourism and Trade, and Cesar Australia, CitrusWatch extends its reach from commercial production zones, to high-density, high-risk, high-traffic urban and peri-urban regions. The program supports a volunteer-based, exotic pest early detector network within the citrus industry and general public, and provides access to training on the topics of biosecurity, exotic pest surveillance and identification.

The program aims to ensure that the Australian citrus industry is better equipped to minimise the entry and spread of high priority pests and works with biosecurity agencies, biosecurity programs in other industries, and research and extension programs to support the program vision:

“The Australian citrus industry remains free of harmful High Priority Pests, retains access to key markets through access to robust surveillance data, and long-term industry health is supported by the actions of informed, aware and engaged industry members and general public.”

CitrusWatch is funded by Hort Innovation, using the citrus research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture. Funding is also supplied by Plant Health Australia using the citrus plant health levy.

For more information on CitrusWatch, visit this link.

Read the CitrusWatch Annual Activity Report

The hybrid 22nd Annual General Meeting and Member meetings were held in Canberra 29-30 November, 2022.

A copy of our Chair Steve McCutcheon’s address and the recording providing an update on the delivery of actions and key performance indicators (as detailed in the 2022-23 Annual Operational Plan (AOP)) is now available on our website.

The ‘Megatrends influencing Australian agriculture’ presentation by Peter Gooday from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), the ‘Integration of Remote Sensing for improved Biosecurity’ presentation by Prof. Andrew Robson from the University of New England’s Applied Agricultural Remote Sensing Centre (AARSC), and ‘A plant industry perspective of lessons from the current Varroa response’ by Danny Le Feuvre from the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council (AHBIC) as well as a the ‘National Biosecurity Strategy‘ overview by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry are also available on our website.

View the presentations.

The National Plant Biosecurity Diagnostic Network (NPBDN) hosted a webinar covering the development of National Diagnostic Protocols (NDPs) on Wednesday 23 November 2022.

The webinar explained how NDPs are developed and how they are used to improve Australia’s ability to identify plant biosecurity threats. Speakers included: Lucy Tran-Nguyen (PHA), Toni Chapman (NSW DPI), David Lovelock (Ag Vic), Elisse Nogarotto (Ag Vic), Sam Hair, Oonagh Byrne and Monica Kehoe (WA DPIRD).

With 91 attendees and a diverse range of expert speakers, the webinar successfully improved knowledge of these important resources.

A copy of the webinar is available to all NPBDN Members via the Member Portal.

Learn more.

The first set of annual Action Plans have been released for the National Plant Biosecurity Strategy and its sub-strategies on preparedness, surveillance and diagnostics.

The 2022-23 action plans provide information on key activities that contribute to the delivery of strategic actions and were developed in collaboration with the National Plant Biosecurity Strategy Governance Group. Information in the plans will establish a framework for monitoring and evaluation and help to identify gaps and opportunities for collaboration across the system.

Read more.

A new Biosecurity Collaboration Agreement will establish a National Forest Pest Surveillance Program to improve the early detection of exotic forest pests and the likelihood of their eradication.

This agreement will enable industry and government to carry out risk-based forest pest surveillance activities to early detect and manage new pest incursions in Australia through a well-coordinated national surveillance program.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt said this agreement was timely, given the increasing levels of trade, movement of people and commodities, and climate change contributing to an upward trend in the number of exotic forest pest incursions.

“A nationally coordinated surveillance program—supported by an effective diagnostic network—is needed to effectively mitigate the risk of exotic forest pests establishing in Australia,” Minister Watt said.

“Our forests represent the seventh largest forest estate in the world comprising native, commercial, and urban forests.

“New pests in our forests would have significant impacts on the Australian economy, trade and market access, environment, and way of life.

“Ensuring that forest stakeholders and government agencies work together in partnership is critical to achieving these aims.

“The landmark agreement is the first of its kind, committing to a consistent and harmonised approach with targeted expert surveillance, training and support of various stakeholders, and planning and reporting.

“This is a great example of how strong partnerships across governments and industry can improve our national biosecurity system.

“It is also very timely as we know climate change can stress trees, making them more susceptible to pests, and a warming climate is changing the movement and range of pests to threaten new areas of forest.”

Plant Health Australia CEO, Sarah Corcoran said the early detection of exotic plant pest and diseases minimised the potential significant economic and social risks and improved the chances of eradication before these impacts occur.

“The National Forest Pest Surveillance Program demonstrates how connected strategies, collaboration and co-ordinated plant pest and surveillance activities strengthen the plant biosecurity system not only for the benefit of plant industries but for economy, environment, and community,” Ms Corcoran said.

Signatories to the agreement include the Commonwealth government, the Australian Forest Products Association, Plant Health Australia, all State and Territory governments, Forest Wood Products Australia, Invasive Species Council, and NRM Regions Australia.

Welcome to the November edition of Tendrils, our second last e-newsletter for 2022!

Unlike the winding down of activities that usually precedes the end-of-year holidays, the past few weeks have shown that biosecurity is still high on the national agenda.

Last month, our Chair Steve McCutcheon and I attended the Agricultural Budget breakfast hosted by CropLife, to hear the Hon. Minister Watt outline the budget line items for agriculture and biosecurity.  Plant Health Australia (PHA), welcomes the Albanese $134 million investment in biosecurity measures to improve border screening, and their $204 million package to boost innovation and training in the timber industry. These key investments will go towards bolstering Australia’s biosecurity system and demonstrates the Government’s support for agricultural industries. Making biosecurity a priority is essential in order to protect and grow this $1.5 billion industry.

Another key milestone in working towards a contemporary Australian plant biosecurity system, was the release of the revised Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed (EPPRD) at the end of October. The revisions offer enhanced operation and clarity across a number of provisions and outcomes including the key policy matters of ‘Owner Reimbursement Costs in the absence of a Response Plan’ and vector/pathogen complexes, together with 29 other variations. These variations represent a significant milestone in the evolution of the EPPRD and are the outcome of considerable work undertaken by the signatories over several years. Ratified on 26 October 2005, last month we also celebrated 17 years of the EPPRD – a landmark agreement which provides the strong foundational partnerships in plant biosecurity.

In PHA news, our 2022 Annual Report is now available for download from our website, with a printed copy sent to all our members along with the notice of the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The report marks my second year as CEO and the conclusion of the 2016-21 Strategic Plan.

Our Member meetings will be held 29-30 November 2022 in Canberra, with the 22^nd AGM being held on Tuesday 29 November. Invitations have been sent to all members with the program, proxy form and registration link. A reminder that Member registrations close this Friday 18 November.

Another significant event is the 2022 PHA Member survey, which opens shortly. Once again we’ve commissioned Kynetec, a leading agricultural market research company, to conduct the survey. The survey seeks to evaluate our performance specifically against our Strategic Plan and priorities as well as implementation of programs, initiatives, communications and engagements.

On the note of Members, I’d like to congratulate Jim Pekin on his retirement. Jim was a long-serving CEO of the Australian Banana Growers’ Council and well known for his passion and work behind the scenes of the banana industry. Personally it has been an absolute pleasure to know and work with Jim through my previous roles in Biosecurity Queensland, Northern Territory Department of Primary Industries and currently PHA. We wish Jim all the very best in this next phase of his life adventure.

I’d also like to welcome Brigit Perry and Somania Dahal to the PHA team. Brigit has joined as a Project Officer in the Digital Systems team and Somania Dahal who commenced as our Management Accountant in our corporate team.

With a few short weeks until we enter the final month of 2022, the PHA team is hard at work delivering against our priority areas and we look forward to seeing you at our upcoming meetings and will be preparing a final edition of Tendrils for December.

With over 29,000 registered beekeepers who own approximately 668,000 hives, keeping Australia’s honey bee population healthy is no mean feat.

Australia’s geographic location, a world-class biosecurity system and programs such as the National Bee Pest Surveillance Program (NBPSP) protect the industry from high priority pests that devastate honey bee industries overseas.

The NBPSP is a large industry-government partnership jointly funded by Hort Innovation, the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council (AHBIC), Grain Producers Australia (GPA), the Australian Government and State and Territory governments.

The program currently targets 13 pests that range from giant honeybees at 17-20 mm long to tracheal mites which are less than 0.2 mm in size, and viruses which cause significant disease in colonies.

The NBPSP uses a range of tools and tests to detect these pests.

A lot of surveillance activities are undertaken in the field at ports of high risk concern for the entry of these target pests.

“Several different types of samples are collected and sent to a specific laboratory and highly-trained individuals who inspect the samples or expose the samples to further tests, to detect exotic pests as soon as possible,” said Dr Jenny Shanks, Plant Health Australia’s Manager, Bee Biosecurity.

The types of tools used in diagnostics vary. Beekeepers can do a physical inspection for pests by looking at hive frames or undertaking sugar shakes or alcohol washes. Laboratories have a wider range of diagnostic tools such as microscopes to inspect bees, sticky mats for mites, dissection to remove the trachea of individual bees, and molecular tests for detecting viruses. These tools assist with Varroa species identification and to genetically confirm exotic bee species.

Interestingly, birds can also assist in diagnostics. The presence or absence of pest bees in regurgitated pellets, can be inspected in a laboratory for the presence of bee wings.

“The wings are then inspected for venation arrangement, as wing veins are different between Asian honeybees and European honeybees,” said Dr Shanks.

Government-based laboratories are charged with the inspection of sticky mats. These traps are specifically designed pieces of cardboard with a sticky surface based on the floor of sentinel hives. The hives are then treated with an acaricide, which is a chemical used to target exotic mites only. If there are mites in the hives, once exposed to the chemicals, they fall through the hive and land on the sticky surface of the mat, and become trapped. The mats are removed and inspected under a microscope for the presence or absence confirmation of mites like Tropilaelaps and Varroa mites.

“25,147 sticky mats were inspected by trained Australian laboratories between 2016-2021, and all samples returned negative results for Deformed wing virus (DWV), Acute bee paralysis virus (APBV), and Slow bee paralysis virus (SBPV), ” said Dr Shanks. “

Specialist entomologists such as Alberto Guanilo from Bugs for Bugs Ltd. dissected at least 25,000 adult honeybees between 2016 and 2021, removing the trachea of the bee and inspecting for the presence or absence of a ‘tracheal mite’. This method requires the careful and precision dissection of the trachea from the bee under a microscope. The samples of bees were collected from hives, swarms captured in catchboxes and around port areas, and during floral sweep netting activities by government biosecurity officers. In Tasmania over 4,000 bees have been inspected for tracheal mites.

Dr John Roberts from the CSIRO has developed an exotic virus assay, used on samples of bees collected from hives to inform the presence or absences of harmful bee viruses not currently in Australia. Some of these viruses include Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV), and Slow Bee Paralysis Virus (SBPV). Between 2019 and 2021, 600 samples of adult bees were provided to the CSIRO lab for testing of these three key bee viruses. All samples over the 5-years have returned negative results for DWV, ABPV, SBPV.

The NBPSP stakeholders and managers are continuously exploring new innovative diagnostic tools to improve detection sensitives and laboratory capacity and efficiency, such as trialling molecular tests for detection of tracheal mite, or the use of eDNA to detect even more information of target pests.

April 2021 marks 21 years of improving national biosecurity outcomes through partnerships for Plant Health Australia (PHA). To celebrate this milestone, we cast our eye back on the lifetime of the company and the shared partnerships and member support that has contributed to the success of PHA.

PHA was established in the year 2000, with the long-term goal of developing and maintaining an internationally outstanding plant health management system for Australia by improving the nation’s plant health status and the sustainability and profitability of plant industries. From small beginnings to 21 years later, PHA is the national coordinator of the government–industry partnership for plant biosecurity in Australia. With a reputation for excellence and professionalism, PHA has been bringing together plant industries and governments to share responsibility around biosecurity, joining forces to address the threats and work together to prevent their arrival. (View timeline graphic)

Under guidance of its first Chairperson, Andrew Inglis, the company was tasked with identifying national priorities in plant health management, reviewing existing plant health systems, structures and programs, consulting members on issues of concern to establish effective operating procedures. The key achievements in the first year of operation included the recruitment of a management team led by PHA’s inaugural CEO, Neil Fisher, development of corporate and annual operational plans, and securing funding through a Commonwealth Budget Initiative. The initial membership base including the Australian Government and all state and territory governments, grew from 16 to 23 members in the first 14 months – a clear sign of goodwill and confidence of the national benefits that could be achieved through working alongside each other.

2001 brought consolidation of past work, implementing projects to resolve identified gaps and improve coordination and consistency of the national plant health system. 2001 also marked the launch of the PHA website and a growth in staff numbers to eight full-time positions – including the appointment of long-serving employee Mr Rodney Turner, who remains with the company today. The introduction of the Plant Health Australia (Plant Industries) Funding Act 2002 gave plant industry members the choice of using a levy mechanism to meet their yearly membership subscriptions. In the same year, PHA launched the Australian Plant Pest Database (APPD) with 46,000 pest records.

In the following three years, PHA focused on progressing the ratification of the world-first Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed (EPPRD), a more effective and transparent means to manage and reduce the cost of emergency plant pests, and a crucial component of a world-class plant health system based on partnerships. Ratification of the EPPRD was achieved in 2005 with the Australian Government, four state governments and twelve plant industry members as signatories and signified the collective effort to create the world’s most progressive plant health partnership arrangement between government and industry. Another major milestone in this period was the production of PLANTPLAN, the first nationally consistent emergency response plan for emergency plant pests and the appointment of a new CEO, Lindy Hyam.

The first decade of the millennium was characterised by tough conditions for producers with persistent drought conditions, water allocations drying up, and challenging trade conditions. The mid-noughties also saw the first application of the EPPRD in the first nationally funded response and successful plant pest eradication of Khapra beetle in Western Australia. The late-noughties saw the appointment of PHA’s second Chairperson, Dr Tony Gregson, and third CEO, Greg Fraser.

Beyond the EPPRD, PHA continued to work with members in the areas of surveillance, diagnostics, biosecurity planning, contingency planning, risk mitigation, capacity building and information systems. Highlights from this period include the publication of the National Plant Health Status Report – a valuable reference manual containing input from all key plant biosecurity stakeholders for those interested in Australia’s plant health system, aiding in building international and local consumer confidence in our pest-free produce status. The development of the National Plant Health Strategy and the National Fruit Fly Strategy were also landmark initiatives to safeguard Australia’s competitive advantage and market access.

In the 2010s, PHA continued its focus on mitigating risks of post-border biosecurity and reducing the impact of pests through improved national response capability. While celebrating 10 years of building partnerships, collaborative approaches and shared responsibility, PHA concentrated on innovative approaches and prudent financial management in order to drive action to improve policy, practice and performance of the plant biosecurity system. With 49 members, 37 EPPRD signatories and 28 staff, PHA welcomed a new Chairperson, Darral Ashton, and delivered a significant amount of project work. During this time, PHA also strengthened its strategic alliance with Animal Health Australia through the Farm Biosecurity Program, EPPRD training and response exercises so that, where possible, both companies were leveraging synergies and having consistent approaches.

The next decade saw increased activity under the EPPRD with a five-year review revealing a high level of confidence in and the value placed on the EPPRD, by members and signatories. The launch of the National Plant Biosecurity Strategy (underpinned by the Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity) mapped the way ahead for Australia’s plant biosecurity system until 2020 – the first national blueprint for building a better, coordinated national plant biosecurity system capable of rising to the expected challenges in the next 10 years. Governments at the state and commonwealth level invested in either new biosecurity legislation or updates to their existing legislation, and plant biosecurity research capacity, signaling a growing awareness of the importance of biosecurity.

Milestones from this period included:

• a new Chairperson, Steve McCutcheon
• the development of the Plant Biosecurity Research, Development and Extension Strategy (a framework guiding plant biosecurity research in Australia)
• consulting on the development of New Zealand’s Government Industry Agreement Deed
• addressing the World Bank’s Global Agriculture and Food Security program in Washington DC
• completion of AUSPestCheck®, the national surveillance virtual coordination centre hosting over 2 million records of surveillance checks.

PHA entered 2020 with 59 members, 48 EPPRD signatories and 35 staff. In 2020, PHA welcomed a new CEO, Sarah Corcoran, and under her leadership focus has been on the development of a new five-year strategic plan.

“Our new strategic plan will deliver on priorities for plant health, manage transitions and change and provide the foundation for long-term agricultural, economic and biosecurity outcomes for Australia,” said current CEO, Sarah Corcoran.

Quotes

Ms Sarah Corcoran, CEO
“Our new strategic plan will deliver on priorities for plant health, manage transitions and change and provide the foundation for long-term agricultural, economic and biosecurity outcomes for Australia.”

Dr Susanna Driessen, General Manager Emergency Response
“Just as our membership has grown, so has the breadth of the industries committed to the partnership arrangements embodied in the EPPRD. 21 years later PHA remains the custodian of the EPPRD which currently has 48 signatories and continues to deliver a nationally consistent approach to incursion management in Australia.”

Mr Rodney Turner, General Manager Partnerships
“In the early 2000s the funding from the Australian Government was vital in not only enabling the work needed to enhance the plant biosecurity system but was key in growing our staff numbers to support this work.”

Mr Steve McCutcheon, Chairperson
“System improvements, policy changes, increased capability and lessons learnt from hands-on experience and challenges, means that as a country, we are in a better place to deal with plant pest inclusions than we were 21 years ago.”

Mr Michael Milne, Company Secretary and Chief Financial Officer
“It has been a privilege to engage, collaborate and partner with a member base that is passionate about improving the Australian plant biosecurity system.”

After three years, the much-anticipated 2^nd Australian Biosecurity Symposium brought over 400 of Australia’s key agricultural, government, research, and community sectors to the Gold Coast last week.

The symposium is a flagship event of the Biosecurity Collective – a shared initiative consisting of Animal Health Australia (AHA), Invasive Species Council (ISC), Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) and Plant Health Australia (PHA) intended to influence the direction of Australia’s biosecurity system towards 2030, particularly in engaging all Australians in building a stronger biosecurity system and building a mass biosecurity movement.

The event is proudly sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Biosecurity Queensland, the National Biosecurity Response Team (NBRT), James Cook University, CEBRA, Wildlife Health Australia and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Day 2 focused on connecting the dots between broader national activities that enhance and strengthen the Australian biosecurity system and mainstreaming biosecurity to the general public.

“We all know that biosecurity outbreaks are continuing to rise in volume and complexity. Over the next decade, Australia needs a biosecurity movement to meet the challenges facing the national biosecurity system and influence the direction of the future biosecurity system,” said Sarah Corcoran, CEO of Plant Health Australia in the opening address.

One of Australia’s most well-respected health journalists and host of Radio National’s Health Report and Coronacast, Dr Norman Swan shared his experiences and knowledge in mainstreaming important messages to a broad audience in the keynote address.

Dr Swan’s address provided delegates with key takeaways on how we can mainstream the importance of biosecurity practices, bringing about positive and sustained engagement from the broader population.

He said every pandemic in history has highlighted the poverty gap and that we need to bridge the gap from awareness to practice change.

“We need to have a plan, it needs to flexible, sustainable and we cannot leave people high and dry,” Norman said. “Biosecurity is not a nice to have or a five-year plan, we need to get communities mobilised.”

“A lack of cooperation provides a fertile environment for biosecurity risks to spread,” he said.

In the first panel discussion of the day, environmental, agricultural and industry leaders explored a range of measures to help strengthen Australia’s biosecurity system. The panel focused on key activities such as the national biosecurity strategy and how it can effectively integrate to ensure a resilient Australian biosecurity system.

Dr Bruce Christie, Chair of the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, has always been a strong advocate for a National Biosecurity Strategy.

“A National Biosecurity Strategy is really important to give us the direction we need to manage risks on a national scale. We now have a workable version that all parties can talk to,” he said.

Invasive Species Council Ambassador, Christine Milne AO, urged delegates to join the dots and make themselves heard to ramp up the movement to make biosecurity a bigger issue with more funding.

“The key in joining the dots, is for people working in government to bridge to the community, get activists to act and to put pressure on decision makers to free up dollars,” she said.

Nathan Hancock, CEO of Citrus Australia and Chair of the Plant Industries Forum Committee said that it is important to consult with industry in biosecurity matters.

“We need to engage more. We need to allow industry to participate and set the direction of biosecurity decision-making,” he said.

“Primary industries are at risk of incursions and many of us have had personal experience dealing with incursions,” Nathan said. “Having dealt with an incursion, my mission is to communicate to industry on the importance of being prepared and involved with biosecurity.”

President of Agforce, Georgie Somerset said: “Biosecurity has been an industry focus because it’s an economic driver. Primary industries are engaged in biosecurity, we are aware, we have biosecurity plans, but it’s about how we engage the community.”

Sal Milici, Head of Border & Biosecurity with the Freight and Trade Alliance said khapra beetle incursions have quadrupled over the past few years. He also said risk is usually based on the quality of a container or where it ships from, but the latest pests were found in low-risk goods from low-risk countries.

“Khapra beetle recently made its way from a shipping container into packaging and when it was found by the community, they didn’t know what to do and rang Crime Stoppers. It is clear that we need to educate the community, but we also need some sort of contact tracing for shipping containers.”

Concurrent Session #4

Genetic technology 2030

Social attitudes to mainstream biosecurity

Advances in science and engagement for invasive ant management

One Health

In the session about Genetic technology 2030, Stacey Lynch from Agriculture Victoria, presented ‘Infectious disease high-throughput sequencing, setting us up for 2030’.

“High-throughput sequencing allows us to understand and control infectious diseases,” she said.

In the panel discussion about social attitudes to mainstream biosecurity, Sonia Graham, Senior Research Associate at the University of Wollongong said: “To create movement, we need to get emotional, talk to people’s hearts and connect on a deeper level.”

Concurrent Session #5

Turning data into intelligence and information

Northern Australia/ Indigenous

Digital surveillance innovation

Citizen science/general surveillance reporting

CSIRO’s Rieks van Klinken set the scene for a panel discussion on turning data into biosecurity intelligence, saying there is huge potential to generate insights from biosecurity for businesses, industry and government.

Panellist Rich Keane, Chief Data and Analytics Officer from the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE), presented the department’s data intelligence vision.

“DAWE’s vision is a robust, risk-based, data-driven biosecurity system that protects Australia’s health, economic, environmental and national security interests against biosecurity threats,” he said.

David Gale from PHA’s presentation was about using AUSPestCheck®, a data aggregation software system designed to collate and provide disease and pest surveillance data, to connect the dots.

“Opportunities exist for industry and government to work together to collate data for specific pests to support trade and market access,” David said.

In the session about digital surveillance innovation, Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn, Research Scientist at CSIRO, presented: ‘Mobile identification of biosecurity threats using image recognition’.

“Fast and reliable identification is critical. The earlier we detect something, the sooner it is less likely to establish,” he said.

In a panel discussion on the Northern Australia Biosecurity Surveillance Network (NABSnet), Pauline Brightling, Harris Group Principal, said: “We’ve been talking about connecting the dots and NABSnet has been doing this for a long time by bringing private vets into the biosecurity system.”

Greg Owens, Industry Development Manager, NT Farmers Association, talked about an integrated approach to biosecurity and a shared vision for Northern Australia.

“In the Territory we’ve built a community of trust that underpins biosecurity resilience. We’ve built a strong system through a series of very small steps,” Greg said.

Concurrent Session #6

Empowering action

Connecting the dots

Myrtle rust advances

Opportunities to mainstream biosecurity

Talking about myrtle rust, Michael Robinson from the Plant Biosecurity Science Foundation, called for an action plan with national coordination, developed over several years, and underpinned by a substantial technical review.

“What is good for the land must come first. This sentiment needs to drive us with more courage,” he said.

Dr Lucy Tran-Nguyen, National Manager, Diagnostics at PHA, presented: ‘The evolution of technologies in plant pest diagnostics – where are we now? What is on the horizon?

“Accurate and timely diagnostic identification is critical to manage plant pest incursions,” she said. “Diagnostics support surveillance programs, pest control and risk mitigation.”

Callum Fletcher, Biosecurity Coordinator at AUSVEG, presented: ‘Solving the collaboration conundrum: a meaningful approach to improving industry and government collaboration in biosecurity’.

“We’ve taken a systematic approach to recommendations and actions in various strategies relating to Northern Australia to highlight key areas and how to address them. We’ve also looked at creating legacies with things that can be done,” he said.

Marta Hernandez-Jover, Professor in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health at Charles Sturt University, presented: ‘Small-holder, big biosecurity opportunity’.

“Only 51% of small holders surveyed belong to a group that offers support,” she said.

In closing, the Biosecurity Collective’s four CEO’s, Kathleen Plowman from AHA, Andrew Cox from ISC, Andreas Glanznig from CISS, and Sarah Corcoran from PHA, concluded the symposium.

“It’s been an amazing symposium that has highlighted the enormous amount of change that has happened over the past three years since the last symposium. I was really pleased to see how we are gaining momentum in innovation and transformation of the biosecurity system, the progress in environmental DNA detection, and the work by the University of Adelaide around e-commerce surveillance,” said Andreas.

“The top outcomes for me over the past two days have been the linked themes on connecting the dots and mainstreaming biosecurity. We’ve heard about programs already in place delivering on this,” said Sarah.

“In order to achieve our reach, we need to amplify the biosecurity message. This means more engagement, more participation, and more space for diverse views,” she said.

In closing, Kathleen reiterated what Norman Swan said about community-based action, and what Christine Milne said about a bottom-up approach to sharing the biosecurity message.

“We need guerrilla campaigning – it’s communities and people who are going to lead us out of this. We need to have a platform at the top, so the people at the top can hear us. We need parliamentary friends of biosecurity,” she said.

Andrew Cox said invasive species are the biggest driver of environmental loss and extinctions, the destroyer of whole industries and livelihoods.

“Biosecurity is our problem. It’s our chance to make things right to save what we believe in, and what we value,” he said.

“As part of the Decade of Biosecurity, we can only reach our goal of 25 million biosecurity champions by all bringing a spirit of generosity and courage. And by living and breathing biosecurity,” he said.

During the symposium, PHA held an online biosecurity resilience survey to assist in understanding biosecurity resilience perspectives. Key biosecurity stakeholders shared their thoughts on how biosecurity resilience could be supported, boosted and enhanced. Kevin Taylor from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW completed the survey and won a $200 gift card.

Outcomes from the 2^nd Australian Biosecurity Symposium and the launch of the Decade of Biosecurity will be made available online in the coming weeks. Follow the discussion and keep the conversation going by using and following #BioSym2022 on social media.