Growcom’s Chief Advocate, Rachel Mackenzie, said that it was pleasing that Minister Donaldson had recognised this was just the beginning since it would take considerable investment over several years to restore the State’s biosecurity capability to world’s best practice.

She welcomed the inclusion of new quality assurance measures for plant diagnostics and a boost to laboratory capacity to improve detection of plant pests and diseases as one of the priority initiatives for funding in plant biosecurity, together with investment in Biosecurity Queensland’s workforce and the establishment of a new biosecurity preparedness and response unit to help manage new and emerging threats.

“We are hopeful that these new funds will result in greater equity of funding between plant and animal biosecurity, something Growcom has been arguing for, for a long time,” Mackenzie said. 

“We are very pleased to see the emphasis on building expert and regional capacity as we have long been concerned about the growing gaps in expertise that has arisen as resources have been depleted. However, we are disappointed there has been no obvious funding for transitioning industry into the new shared responsibility model through investment in industry-led Best Management Practice programs as the best delivery model.

“We would also welcome more detail about the regional pilot program to manage biosecurity threats on a local level and how this will be operated. The additional funding is certainly a very positive step in the right direction,” Mackenzie said.

As peak production horticulture body, Growcom provided detailed input into the review.

“We are pleased to see that the Government has recognised the perspectives we put forward to the Review which have been reflected in the announcement today,” Mackenzie added.