| | | | | | | Welcome to the March edition of the Three Chiefs Newsletter!
The Chief Plant Protection Officer, Dr Gabrielle Vivian-Smith and her team share updates on a recent Plant Health Committee workshop and field trip, the collaborative international plant health work underway in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste; and a look ahead to Dr Vivian-Smith's international meetings in Italy along with a Plant Health Committee meeting in Western Australia.
The Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Beth Cookson and her team provide updates on the important work of the Human Animal Spillover and Emerging Diseases Scanning Group, insights into rabies management activities underway in Timor-Leste, and other collaborative international animal health work happening in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.
The Chief Environmental Biosecurity Officer, Dr Bertie Hennecke and his team share updates on new resources for best practice weed management, a new online digital feature showcasing the importance of environmental biosecurity to Australia's amazing natural landscapes and biodiversity; plus a pest profile detailing duck viral enteritis.
Please also complete our reader survey to provide feedback on the Three Chiefs Newsletter. We hope you enjoy this edition and please spread the word to your colleagues to subscribe! | | | Australian Chief Plant Protection Officer
(ACPPO) | | | | | Plant Health Committee workshop and field trip to Wollongong and Sydney | | | | The 66th meeting of the Plant Health Committee was followed by a Border/Near Border workshop and field trip to Wollongong and Sydney, which successfully enabled collaboration, information sharing and discussion about how to enhance surveillance and response activities for border and near border (post-biosecurity) detections of hitchhiker pests. | | 
| | ACPPO key activities during March to May | | | | During March Dr Gabrielle Vivian-Smith is in Rome to attend the annual CPM session at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. This is a significant meeting designed to promote cooperation of contracting parties and relevant stakeholders to implement the objectives of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC).
Ahead of the meeting, Dr Vivian-Smith will also represent the Southwest Pacific region at the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) Bureau meeting, which provides guidance to the CPM on the strategic direction, financial and operational management of its activities. | | | Australian Chief Plant Protection Officer
(ACPPO) and Australian Chief Veterinary Officer (OCVO) | | | | | Australia's focus on regional work in animal and plant health | | | | The Australian Chief Plant Protection Office (ACPPO) and the Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer (OCVO) lead surveillance, capacity-building, and technical support programs that enhance biosecurity outcomes and protect agricultural industries.
A focus of this collaborative work is supporting biosecurity surveillance efforts in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. Drawing on long-standing relationships with local authorities, animal and plant health surveys are co-delivered to identify emergency animal disease threats and priority plant pests, and support response and management activities. | | | Australian Chief Veterinary Officer (OCVO) | | | Human Animal Spillover and Emerging Diseases Scanning (HASEDS) Group | | | | The Australian Government established the Human Animal Spillover and Emerging Diseases Scanning (HASEDS) Group, an initiative which embodies a One Health approach, bringing together experts from multiple sectors to collaboratively scan for and assess emerging and re-emerging disease threats, to provide early warning, inform decision-making, and strengthen Australia's capacity to prevent and mitigate these risks before they escalate into crises.
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| | Risk Communication and Rabies Management in Timor-Leste | | | | 
| | Recognising the importance of addressing rabies at a regional level, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry committed to supporting neighbouring countries such as Timor-Leste in managing the risk of dog-mediated rabies and improving rabies control efforts.
As a result, the Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer (OCVO) has partnered with Timor-Leste's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Forestry (MALFF) to support their rabies surveillance, dog vaccination programs, and community awareness campaigns. | | Australian Chief Environmental Biosecurity
Officer (ACEBO) | | | New resources available for best practice weed management | | | | To support landholders to manage invasive weeds, two new national best practice manuals for gamba grass and invasive vines are now available for free download.
These manuals have been designed to aid in decision making about weed management, backed by the latest research and reviews by technical experts. | | 
| | Connecting to the story of environmental biosecurity | | | | Protecting what we love: How environmental biosecurity is everyone's business is a new educational resource that has been produced by the Environmental Biosecurity Office to showcase the importance of environmental biosecurity to Australia's amazing natural landscapes, flora and fauna.
The resource highlights the importance of protecting the environmental assets that we all love. We invite you to check it out! | | 
| | Pest Profile: Duck viral enteritis | | | | Duck viral enteritis (DVE), also known as duck plague, is one of Australia's higher-risk exotic environmental diseases.
DVE is a contagious and often fatal infection that occurs in wild and domestic ducks, geese, swans and other waterfowl of the Anatidae family. It is not found in Australia, but it now occurs in most parts of the world. | | 
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