A National Diagnostic Protocols (NDP) training workshop was held on 29 May 2025 at the University of Sydney, alongside the Australasian Plant Pathology Society (APPS) Conference. The workshop contributed to strengthening Australia’s biosecurity preparedness by building technical capacity among plant diagnosticians.

The event brought together 16 diagnosticians from across Australia and focused on increasing familiarity with the updated Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CLso) and begomoviruses NDPs, as well as the bioinformatics pipeline used for bacterial NDPs.

Rebecca Roach and Paul Campbell from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI) led the technical training. The workshop was facilitated and organised by Harsh Garg and David Lovelock from Plant Health Australia (PHA).

To support the adoption and verification of the CLso protocol, participants received CLso-specific primers and positive controls to take back to their home laboratories. This enabled them to validate the assays locally and contribute to the ongoing NDP review and verification process.

By equipping key personnel with the tools and training to accurately identify priority plant pests, and by supporting laboratory-based validation across institutions, the workshop has made a significant contribution to Australia’s preparedness for these two National Priority Plant Pests.