An increase in smuggling activity means Australia’s biosecurity workers need to be on their “A game”, with access to new technologies to boost detection.
The Department of Agriculture’s Chris Locke says the massive growth in online shopping has opened new pathways for illegal plants, seeds and animals.
“We’re starting to see an increase in non-compliant behaviour such as smuggling and false declarations … or just deliberate misdeclarations of cargo,” he told a national forum in Canberra on Wednesday.
He described the 38 tonne seizure on Monday in Sydney of risk products, which included frog and turtle meat, as at the extreme end of biosecurity work.
Dr Locke said biosecurity officers needed to be on their best game in the current environment.
“We need to be faster at detecting and responding to incursions. We need the technologies and systems to increase our efficiency,” he told the audience.
“The broader environment is really constantly shifting, and there’s always a new threat, responses get more complex and the risks rarely go away.”
Australia’s chief veterinary officer Mark Schipp described Indonesia’s declaration of foot and mouth disease as endemic on Tuesday as concerning.
“This is something that Australia needs to learn to live with and to anticipate that this threat is only going to be present and indeed perhaps advancing closer,” Dr Schipp said.
But he said Australia had anticipated the disease would become endemic in Indonesia, as it was already widespread across the archipelago when detected.
When asked to describe the challenges facing Australia’s biosecurity system, conference participants including industry, government and community stakeholders described it as “vulnerable” and “overwhelmed”.
Funding was also listed high as a concern.
Australian Chief Plant Protection Officer Gabrielle Vivian-Smith said she wanted to see stronger detection technologies and more automation for the mail system over the next five years.
– AAP
