Managing Biosecurity in Victoria

Biosecurity is fundamental to the health, well-being and prosperity of all Victorians. Exotic pests and diseases can threaten the State’s agricultural sector, environment, horticulture and animal industries and potentially harm human health.

Victoria has a strong record of identifying and managing biosecurity risks, but our natural environment and primary industries constantly face new and emerging pest and disease threats. These bring new challenges and require new solutions.

A key focus for Agriculture Victoria is preventing a biosecurity emergency, for example a serious plant or animal disease incursion, which could affect Victoria and Australia. Agriculture Victoria works with jurisdictional partners across the country to ensure our agriculture industries continue to operate and trade without any debilitating pest and disease outbreaks.

Agriculture Victoria is responsible for delivering the state’s biosecurity programs including policy development, emergency response, containment, domestic quarantine, and the provision of commodity and area freedom certification.

The Victorian Chief Plant Health Officer Unit (CPHO) is Agriculture Victoria’s technical lead on plant health management in Victoria. The CPHO is responsible for these programs in a manner that aligns operational delivery with national expectations and the authorising powers provided by the Plant Biosecurity Act 2010 and Plant Biosecurity Regulations 2016.

To focus delivery of these programs the CPHO has, in collaboration with affected industry and community groups, developed clear policy positions on the management of a range of high risk plant biosecurity threats.

The purpose of these policies is to confirm the biosecurity status of these threats to Victoria and the role industry, community and government agencies must play in their management.

Read CPHO’s biosecurity policies.

PCN management policy(PDF - 721.8 KB)

Grapevine phylloxera management policy(PDF - 208.4 KB)

Fruit fly action plan(PDF - 1.3 MB)

Other resources

A great resource for basic biosecurity information is Farm Biosecurity. This website is provided by our national partners Plant Health Australia and Animal Health Australia.

In Victoria there are systems and process in place to help protect both the animal and plant industries. Property identification codes help to identify where there are crops and livestock, this information can be key in preventing or limiting an outbreak of a disease.

Similarly the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) provides vital information on the movement of livestock and is a key disease prevention measure available to the animal industries.

Horses also present certain risks from a biosecurity perspective. Visit the Biosecurity for horses section to learn more. Wrong use of agricultural or veterinary chemicals can damage or contaminate land, animals, plants or produce. The  Chemical Use section has a range of information to help landholders meet their obligations.