Anzacs and biosecurity

As Anzac Day approaches, it’s important we take time to reflect on those who have fought and lost their lives for our country, and those who continue to be deployed on global operations – away from their families and loved ones. The commitment they demonstrate and sacrifices they make while protecting Australia and its national interests is something we should always remember and be proud of.

We should also recognise the important role the Australian Defence Force plays in safeguarding our plant industries through effective quarantine and biosecurity management. Overseas operations are a mammoth logistical effort for the ADF, with high numbers of troops deployed, as well as vehicles and equipment. Bringing this equipment and personnel back in to country requires the ADF to adhere to high-level biosecurity practices; something they take very seriously to reduce the risk of accidentally importing pests and diseases.

In the past, the ADF’s contribution to quarantine and biosecurity management has been acknowledged at the highest level by winning the following awards:

• Joint Movement Control Office (JMCO) Darwin received the 2008 Public Sector Quarantine Award for its efforts in educating Defence personnel who were deploying overseas on operations and exercises, and putting in place screening and control measures to reduce the risk of quarantine breaches.


• The 51st Far North Queensland Regiment won the 2004 National Quarantine Award for displaying a significant, long-term commitment and understanding of quarantine issues in Australia’s far north.


• Army Captain, Kevin Hall won the 2000 National Quarantine Award for producing a 160 page procedure manual in his own time while on operations in East Timor. The manual detailed the procedure to thoroughly clean Army vehicles and equipment before returning to Australia to reduce the risk of exotic pests and diseases arriving in our country.

So while you’re playing two-up on Anzac Day or enjoying a gunfire breakfast, take the time to remember the sacrifices our ADF personnel have made and continue to make. It’s also fitting to acknowledge their commitment to Australia’s biosecurity system; especially considering the difficult circumstances they are deployed in and in regions which have high-risk plant pests and diseases, such as Ug99 in Afghanistan.

Re-bid update 21 April 2010

Our re-bid is continuing to grow with many Participants having signed ‘in-principle’ forms to support the bid. You cannot have a cooperative research centre without Participants and the support for further plant biosecurity research across industry, government, universities, and other R&D corporations is encouraging.

The research programs are evolving each day with valued input from our Program Taskforce and Participants Taskforce, as well as key end-users of the proposed research outcomes.

Our Program Taskforce had a very productive face-to-face meeting last week to discuss the research programs and further refine them. The next draft of the programs will be circulated tomorrow to the Participants Taskforce for end-user comment. Similar to our existing CRC, the new CRC’s Participants will mostly be made up of end-users, which enables greater engagement and the opportunity to actively meet their needs.

May will be a busy month with two key meetings for the Participants of the proposed CRC. After these meetings it will be time to knuckle down and finalise the re-bid documentation (much of which is already being written and collated in the background).

There is considerable effort being shown by all involved, and I would like to thank everyone for their contributions in what is shaping up to be a very solid bid.

Re-bid draft program

On Tuesday afternoon the latest draft of the re-bid program was circulated to all participants who have indicated an interest in being part of the CRC extension.

The Program Taskforce with input from the Participant Taskforce and Board have worked hard to develop the draft program.

To ensure we meet the tight timeline in developing the re-bid we have requested that all participants review the doucments and provide comment/feedback. This will be the last opportunity to get agreement on the future direction of the CRC as the remaining time will need to be dedicated to writing the re-bid proposal. We have requested all feedback/comment by 30 April to enable us to feed all responses into a new draft and then table at the 10 May Participant meeting. If you are a member of a potential participant I encourage you to read the documents and provide comment.

The programs are now titled as:

1. Driving Biosecurity Innovation - through impact and practice change

2. Managing Area Freedom - smarter diagnostics and surveillance tools

3. Securing Market Access - systems approach to product integrity

4. Strengthening Biosecurity Preparedness - pre-border, border and post-border

For each program outcomes, outputs and milestones are now drafted.