The State Government has moved to strengthen Western Australia’s biosecurity response capabilities following discovery of the tomato potato psyllid in WA in February 2017, with a focus on resolving market access issues.
Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan commissioned the Biosecurity Council of Western Australia to assess the effectiveness of the then-Department of Agriculture and Food’s response to secure market access for produce following the discovery of the psyllid.
The Biosecurity Council report found areas needing improvement within the new Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development related to response structure, staffing, industry collaboration and handling national complexities.
The Minister has directed the department to form an implementation working group to review the report’s 11 recommendation, with the group to report back to the Biosecurity Council in the next three months.
A summary report is available at http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/bam/biosecurity-council-reports
Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan said “The Department of Agriculture and Food suffered severe cuts under the previous Liberal National Government, losing almost 500 FTEs over the past eight years – inevitably, some capability was lost through that process.
“Departmental staff put in a mammoth effort in the wake of the tomato potato psyllid discovery: at peak, nearly 150 staff were working in the incident response team to contain the bug and get Western Australian produce moving again.
“However we were aware of industry concern about the effectiveness of the response.
“This report was commissioned to ensure that when biosecurity incidents like this occur, we are best placed to negotiate market access for our growers with the other States.
“The incident and difficulties faced by WA growers since have highlighted the importance of biosecurity and the Government is committed to building capability and capacity in the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s Agriculture and Food Division.
“We are continuing negotiations with the Eastern States regarding market access for products still affected, and I have put market access protocols on the formal agenda for this month’s meeting of Commonwealth, State and Territory agriculture ministers.”
Source: Media Statements – Steps taken to build biosecurity capacity