Help make 2021-30 the decade of biosecurity.

A word from Costa, our first Ambassador

It’s already been over a month since we all launched the Decade of Biosecurity at the second ever Australian Biosecurity Symposium.

Decade of Biosecurity Project 2030 Ambassador, Costa Georgiadis
Decade of Biosecurity Project 2030 Ambassador, Costa Georgiadis

And what an exciting, informative event it was.

I was honoured to be amongst some of the best and brightest minds discussing how we can empower action and work together for transformational change in our biosecurity system.

Here in Australia, we have so much worth protecting. Our wellbeing, our industries, and our natural environment all rely on our biosecurity system to keep them free from pests and diseases. A changing climate and re-opening of international trade and tourism are going to ramp up the pressure on our biosecurity system. We need to make sure it’s up to the challenge.

To continue to protect our primary industries, our precious environment and our way of life we need to build a biosecurity system ready for 2030. And we need to start now!

Mainstreaming biosecurity: turning a buzzword into a way of life

I’m pumped to be the Decade of Biosecurity’s first official ambassador, and I’m 100% in to do whatever it takes. But we’ll only be able to make the Decade a reality if we harness the efforts of all Australians.

Our vision for 2030 is that 25 million Australians become biosecurity warriors.

To get there, we need to create a culture change so that biosecurity becomes a dinner table topic and positive biosecurity behaviours become as natural as putting on a seatbelt.

Sounds great, but how?

This Decade of Biosecurity is all going to be about recognising the power of people and what we can do as a collective. The Decade of Biosecurity Steering Committee has been busy working away on planning, engagement and partnership building.

We want YOU, our early adopters, to join the movement!

We’ll be reaching out to all of you soon with a Save the Date for workshops as we shape-up what the Decade of Biosecurity looks like. We need your experience and expertise to make sure the Decade represents all Australians, all industries and all environments.

If anyone you know hasn’t already signed-up, then we really would love them to join us. We’re seeking innovators, influencers, business partners, industry representatives and everyday citizens like us to be a part of this crucial development phase.

When we share the responsibility, we share the benefits too.

Call for stories!

Do you have a biosecurity story to tell? We would love to hear from you…

It could be a story of the weirdest biosecurity breach you’ve seen, a cool biosecurity project you think people should know about or anything else that could help show how important biosecurity is in Australia.

Just send us a few sentences about your story or project to [email protected] and we’ll get back to you on ways to integrate it into promoting the Decade of Biosecurity.

Biosecurity Symposium 2019

Australia’s national biosecurity system faces a perfect storm with trade and tourism volumes, changing risk pathways and thousands of invasive species already in the country but yet to establish.

Business as usual or incremental improvements is not an option – transformational change is needed within a decade. This panel, recorded at the 2019 Australian Biosecurity Symposium, discusses what Australia needs to do to meet this challenge. Failure is not an option.

Moderated by Robbie Sefton, Managing Director, Seftons, panellists include:

  • Kathleen Plowman, the CEO of Animal Health Australia.
  • Andreas Glanznig, the CEO of the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions.
  • Andrew Cox, the CEO of Invasive Species Council.
  • Matt Koval, Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment.
  • Roger Smith, Head of Biosecurity for the New Zealand Government Ministry of Primary Industries (at the time of recording).