The independent review of Australia’s national biosecurity arrangements — the Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity (IGAB) — has rightly recognised major weakness in Australia’s environmental biosecurity.
This submission praises the work of the review panel that correctly identifies several areas that can be strengthened to significantly improve Australia’s biosecurity system and supports most of the review’s recommendation.
For example we urge the panel to make recommendations that create new institutional arrangements to focus on environmental biosecurity, improve transparency and community stakeholder engagement, assign responsibility for preparedness and establish a new permanent cross-sectoral biosecurity research and innovation body that includes a focus on environmental biosecurity.
The submission indicates positions on 27 of the 40 recommendations in the draft report and the five feedback questions.
The submission is endorsed by 21 Australian-based conservation organisations.