FMD, Japanese encephalitis, varroa mite: nine biosecurity threats facing Australia

Experts are calling for more co-operation to tackle the nine exotic pests and diseases threatening the nation’s agriculture industry.

The polyphagous shot hole borer is tiny, about the size of the tip of a felt pen.

But it would be foolish to think its small frame hints to a harmless nature, when it’s more a portent of the invisible damage it does to the innards of a tree, tunnelling into its stems and branches and eventually suffocating it to death.

This Southeast Asian beetle made its way to Australia for the first time in August last year when it was detected in trees in East Fremantle, Western Australia.

There have since been 139 confirmed infested properties, triggering an emergency response to eradicate the exotic pest before it establishes itself in the country.

But it’s little wonder talk of the tiny borer – which counts the avocado tree among its hosts – is rare given there are battles being fought elsewhere with whole industries at stake.

The polyphagous shot hole borer is just one of the nine exotic pests and diseases to have triggered a rapid, nationally-co-ordinated response currently underway due to the risk they pose to Australia’s multi-billion dollar agriculture industry.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt announced last Wednesday that the Federal Government had approved Australia’s first National Biosecurity Strategy. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“We’re in a code red situation and we need to be working as a cohesive, national body,” Centre for Invasive Species Solutions chief executive Andreas Glanznig said.

The swag of biosecurity threats facing the nation’s agricultural trade are however not just those to have made it to Australian shores, but pests and diseases knocking at the door, such as lumpy skin and foot and mouth disease that are spreading among cattle across Indonesia.

Also on the Federal Government’s list of current outbreaks requiring an emergency response is Japanese encephalitis, banana freckle, browsing ant, four tropical weeds, red imported fire ant, Torres Strait Exotic Fruit Fly, white spot disease and of course varroa mite, the most dangerous pest to honeybees that was detected in a sentinel hive at the Port of Newcastle in June.

“If you compare our biosecurity arrangements to overseas, we’re light years ahead. But we’re an outward facing economy,” Mr Glanznig said.

The total number of varroa mite detections in NSW has doubled over the last two weeks. Photo: NSW Department of Primary Industries

“If Khapra beetle (a pest native to India and a common hitchhiker in sea containers) gets into the country, it would impact our $15 billion cropping industry. The Commonwealth and states need to co-operate with industry and that need has never been greater. More money won’t fix the problem, we have to transform the whole system.”.

Funding for biosecurity has been a political football for years now, with industry and farming groups including the National Farmers’ Federation, Plant Health Australia and Animal Health Australia repeatedly calling for secure, bipartisan, long-term funding.

That call reached a crescendo in recent months, as alarm grew about the possibility of foot and mouth disease jumping to Australia from Bali after it was detected on the island last month, given the high level of tourist traffic.

In what has been hailed as a significant development, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt announced last Wednesday that the Federal Government had approved Australia’s first National Biosecurity Strategy.

The document has been in train since early last year and is a blueprint for the nation’s biosecurity system over the next 10 years that combines the resources of government, industry and the community.

Plant Health Australia chief executive Sarah Corcoran has hailed the national strategy as a significant development that would mobilise every Australia into a “25 million strong biosecurity mass movement”.

She said the timing was critical given a changing climate, altered trading patterns since Covid and shifting geopolitics that has altered the risk profile for a host of biosecurity threats.

“We’re part of this mass movement of pests and diseases. And Covid has had an impact,” she said.

The browsing ant is one of nine exotic pests and diseases threatening Australia’s biosecurity.

“We’ve seen a deterioration of sea container hygiene for instance, because there aren’t the people in the ports monitoring these things anymore. There are disruptions in trade and ships being able to offload cargo, so they’re sitting just offshore, which does not exclude hitchhiking pests from coming in.”

Animal Health Australia chief executive Kathleen Plowman described the national biosecurity strategy as a “beacon on the hill”.

“We all know the problems and challenges, but we have to work together. It’s the collaboration, the partnerships, because we were only as strong as our weakest link”.

She said work must begin on an implementation plan to put into motion the findings of numerous studies and reviews universally calling for more technology and innovation and enlisting the help of the private sector to co-invest.

“The time for talking it through has gone. We’ve got the strategy, let’s work on an implementation plan, let’s secure long-term, sustainable funding,” Ms Plowman said.

She has called for a doubling of the current biosecurity funding by 2030.

At a Federal level, biosecurity is funded through a mix of budget appropriation and industry cost-recovery.

In the former Coalition Government’s last federal budget, $620 million was funnelled into biosecurity measures, including $14.5 million for enhanced screening for Kharpra beetle, $31.2 million for improved digital screening at international mail centres and $21.1 million for on-farm biosecurity.

While the figures are substantial, criticism has focused on the “ad-hoc” nature of the funding that is often responsive to immediate threats.

The Labor Party committed to “long-term, sustainable funding” during this year’s federal election, but when pressed last week Mr Watt was unable to guarantee it would be a feature of the upcoming federal budget.

“It will take a bit of time, but fulfilling this commitment is integral to the growth of our farming sector,” Mr Watt said.