Protecting the biosecurity of agricultural plant species

We plan to determine whether actions to prevent, manage and respond to agricultural plant diseases and pests protect Victoria's economy, communities and environment.

Why this is important

Inconsistent or ineffective biosecurity practices can have devastating economic consequences that extend beyond Victoria’s borders. Recent agricultural threats include the rise of the khapra beetle and the avian influenza outbreak, which prompted Victoria’s largest biosecurity emergency response in 20 years.

Our 2015 engagement, Biosecurity: Livestock, found that resourcing decreases significantly reduced Agriculture Victoria’s surveillance coverage and increased the risk of major disease outbreak.

Agriculture Victoria has a program to strengthen the state’s biosecurity system, which may include legislative reform.

What we plan to examine

This reasonable assurance performance audit aims to test the effectiveness of Agriculture Victoria's threat surveillance and response processes, to improve Victoria's biosecurity system. We plan to focus on data from 2018 to 2022 to analyse recent performance without short-term events skewing the data.

We propose to scope Agriculture Victoria (DJPR) into this engagement.

Timeframe

2023‒24

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