Features IGAB review: where are we now? AHA Communications team In 2015, a review of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity (IGAB) was initiated by Australia’s Agriculture Ministers as part of a broader review of Australia’s biosecurity system. To shed some light on the review process and hear their perspectives on the report’s outcomes, we caught up with Wendy Craik, the IGAB review panel chair; David Palmer, a member of the independent IGAB review panel and AHA Board member, and Kevin Shiell, from Australian Dairy Farmers. Wendy Craik, IGAB review panel chair The biosecurity world has changed dramatically since the last review (Beale) nearly a decade ago. Risks have increased, while funding has decreased, so the review was initiated to evaluate and identify the best way forward. I hoped that the report would offer practical suggestions that have a 16 THE LINK AUT/WIN 18 chance of being implemented and which would garner the general support of all jurisdictions as well as industry, interest groups and individuals across the biosecurity spectrum. I believe the report has achieved this as it provides a detailed path for the next five to 10 years and suggestions for the time after that. However, it’s now up to the governments, industry bodies, the community and groups like AHA to implement the next steps. I envision it will involve putting in place a process for implementing, reporting on and evaluating the recommendations which are agreed to. For me, working on the review was a rewarding experience. The other panel members and the secretariat members were a delight to work with and helped the process run smoothly. I found face-to-face consultation to be very useful; the frankness of people we spoke to was refreshing and important in determining the report’s outcomes. I also found it was important to deal realistically with the funding issue. David Palmer, member of the IGAB independent review panel and AHA Board member The purpose of the review was to analyse the performance capacity in which the jurisdictions and Commonwealth operate and perform the duties required for an efficient biosecurity system. The report has many key proposals. Some notable ones include: • Greater incorporation of the environment into IGAB. The coverage to date, in the panel’s view, is less than satisfactory. It will be interesting to see where this matter settles. The economic One of the successes of the first IGAB is that there is now a multi-jurisdictional framework and work plan.
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