Resources

[Title card reads] Shaping Victoria’s Biosecurity System

[Upbeat acoustic guitar music plays. The Agriculture Victorian logo appears alongside Strengthening Victoria’s Biosecurity System logo]

[Katherine Clift, Executive Director Biosecurity Services, Agriculture Victoria is speaking. Katherine is seated. There is an Agriculture Victoria banner behind her and an outlook through the window to some trees.]

Biosecurity is all about reducing the harm to our communities, environment and economy that can be caused by the impact of pests and diseases.

The biosecurity system involves all of the measures that we undertake to manage the risks of these pests and diseases.

That could be having effective surveillance programs in place, really good preparedness; it could be effective reporting when you see a pest or disease that is unexpected; it also includes all of the people who participate in the system: farmers, community groups, representative organisations, scientists; so a really wide range of people from across every sector of society

Pests and disease outbreaks can be absolutely devastating to Victoria and we've had recent examples of that last year Victoria experienced the largest outbreak of avian influenza seen in Australia which had an absolutely devastating impact on our poultry sector we're also currently responding to a new detection of abalone disease and the last time this was detected back in 2005 the impact was absolutely devastating on our abalone industry and they're still recovering to this day from that event back in 2005.

We know that the risks of new pests and disease is rising that's a combination of a number of different factors the increasing complexities of international trade and travel … we also have the climate variability and change which is making our environment more suitable for some pests and diseases and also increasing their range overseas so there's much more opportunity for these pests and diseases to spread both overseas and in Australia.

[Matt Lowe, Chief Executive, Agriculture Victoria is speaking. Matt is seated. There is an Agriculture Banner behind him and an outlook through the window to some trees.]

Victoria is an agricultural powerhouse.

Our agricultural production in Victoria is worth nearly 16 billion and food and fibre exports are worth more than 14 billion … having a strong biosecurity system ensures that … we can minimize the harm caused by pests and diseases

Australia more broadly has an enviable biosecurity status … with freedom from many pests and Diseases… And this … ensures we have a strong reputation globally for quality produce.

With the tempo and intensity of biosecurity threats increasing it's more important than ever for Victoria to have a strong biosecurity system.

We're bringing together industry community and government to develop a shared vision for biosecurity in Victoria. The idea is that together we can look at the opportunities to strengthen the system and also identify how we can work together to achieve these improvements.

[Katherine Clift, Executive Director Biosecurity Services, Agriculture Victoria is speaking.]

We know that we cannot manage these challenges on our own we need to be able to hear … all the different perspectives from across Victoria to be able to identify how we can really solve these challenges now and into the future.

[Words displayed on screen]

Join the conversation

agriculture.vic.gov.au/svbs-program

[Agriculture Victoria and Strengthening Victoria’s Biosecurity System logos also displayed]

[End card reads:]

Agriculture Victoria

Authorised by Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne

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