Indonesian fishermen paddled 1990 kilometres to Australia’s shores to trade with the Yolngu people 300 years ago. Today, global trade accounts for 41 per cent of Australia’s GDP and has the world on edge as the pendulum of free trade swings towards protectionism and becomes embroiled in geopolitics.

Lurking beneath the headlines of trade wars and intellectual property protection is an existential trade-related challenge: biosecurity.