Page 3270 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 October 2022
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invasive pests and diseases. Furthermore, maintaining our biosecurity protects our way of life, our people, environment and the economy. However, biosecurity incidents are continuing to rise in volume and complexity and require stronger efforts by governments, business, industry and the community to prevent, plan for, respond to and recover from these pests and diseases.
In 2020, the CSIRO published a report on the biosecurity outlook for Australia, which identified that between 2012 and 2017 the number of interceptions of biosecurity risk material at the Australian border rose by 50 per cent. In 2022, significant biosecurity threats have been realised. Japanese encephalitis virus and varroa mite, the Varroa destructor, have been detected for the first time in Australia. The origin and entry pathway into Australia of Japanese encephalitis virus and varroa mite is not known. The ACT is very pleased to be part of the national response effort to these biosecurity risks and recently deployed staff interstate to assist with varroa mite operational activities.
The ACT is not immune to these risks. Under the Animal Diseases Act 2005, I declared restrictions on the movement of European honey bees, hives and apiary equipment that had been in New South Wales from coming into the ACT, to protect the ACT’s bees from varroa mite. In early July, the ACT government coordinated an online briefing to beekeepers in the ACT to inform them of the varroa mite situation and how they could be part of the ACT’s response effort.
As part of the 2021-2022 budget, the ACT government invested an additional $2.9 million towards managing new and emerging invasive plants and animals in the ACT. This additional funding is allowing the ACT to respond faster and more strongly to reports of pest and invasive plant incursions across the ACT. Recently, the ACT government successfully delivered a thermally assisted, aerial shooting of invasive species program that removed 503 pest animals from over 90,000 hectares of national park and reserves in the ACT.
There remains heightened concerns nationally around the likelihood of lumpy skin disease and foot-and-mouth disease entering Australia due to the recent detection and uncontrolled spread of these diseases in Indonesia. Preventative measures for these diseases have already been put into effect at Australian airports with direct connections to Indonesia. This includes the introduction of foot mats to clean potentially contaminated footwear and additional detector dogs to ensure biosecurity risk material is not brought in by international passengers. As Minister, I remain on the front foot with the commonwealth and state and territory agriculture ministers to ensure nationally we remain prepared and ready to respond.
It is a sad and confronting fact that biosecurity incursions devastate industries and cost millions in response, efforts and losses. The multimillion-dollar response to eradicate red imported fire ant incursions from the south east of Queensland has been ongoing since 2001 and is a stark reminder of the importance of our risk mitigation measures at Australia’s border, and the potential financial and other impacts of managing these incidents. The ACT will continue to engage at the national level and work with other states on biosecurity risks such as the red imported fire ant.
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