DAFF – DCCC Meeting No.100: Key Biosecurity and Trade Updates - Minutes Now Available

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) participated in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Cargo Consultative Committee (DCCC) meeting no. 100 held on 3 April 2025.

The DCCC is a committee for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and international trade and logistics service provider industries to consider tactical and strategic biosecurity-related international trade/logistics issues.

The aim of the DCCC is to provide the department and industry with a consultative committee to ensure that effective biosecurity outcomes are delivered without unnecessary impediments to trade by facilitating efficient and effective biosecurity regulation across the biosecurity continuum.

Some of the important items discussed at the most recent meeting include:

• Progress on the DAFF Biosecurity 2030 Roadmap, including updates on national biosecurity priorities, expenditure transparency, and the role of the Sustainable Biosecurity Funding Advisory Panel.

• The Biosecurity Operations Division's Three-Year Strategy, outlining plans to enhance operational efficiency, support future workforce needs, and introduce innovations such as expanded approved arrangements and new screening technologies.

• Continued development and rollout of the Simplified Targeting and Enhanced Processing System (STEPS), featuring digital tools like the Cargo Processing Predictor, AI-assisted document analysis, and the Cargo Status Tracker to improve cargo and biosecurity processing.

• Reforms to the low-value import (SAC) pathway, focusing on modernising risk management, better data and intelligence use, and recruitment of 100 additional frontline staff to support inspections and assessments.

• Strategic discussions on the emerging air and sea port landscape, including the growth of new or expanded international operations at 49 ports by 2040, and the implications for biosecurity risk management and infrastructure planning.

• Review of the DCCC Terms of Reference, considering a sharper focus on high-level strategic issues, operational flexibility, and updated governance arrangements to better support industry collaboration.

• Updates on biosecurity cost recovery, including an anticipated 2.4% increase to regulatory fees from 1 July 2025 in line with CPI movements.

• An update on the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) situation in Europe, including changes to Australia's import conditions and the department's risk management and industry engagement measures.