Overview
HASTE (Enhancing rapid decision-support for emergency animal disease outbreaks) is a national collaboration to strengthen Australia’s preparedness and response to emergency animal disease outbreaks. It does this through engagement, analytics, distribution, and operationalisation.
Phase one of the project is co-funded by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), the University of Melbourne, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). HASTE was created to meet the growing need for rapid, scalable, and interoperable decision-support tools for animal health emergencies.
By building trusted, data-driven models, HASTE gives decision-makers greater ability to manage complex outbreak scenarios with confidence and precision. These decision makers include government authorities and industry peak bodies.
Project Lead: The University of Melbourne
Project Contact: cbaker1@unimelb.edu.au
Project Status: Active
Project date: Phase one: May 2024 to June 2026
Objective alignment:
- 1 - Improve Australia’s preparedness and ability to respond to emergency animal diseases
Activity alignment:
- 1.2 - Continue to undertake simulation exercises for a variety of EAD scenarios, including identifying and addressing trade ramifications
- 1.4 - Undertake projects, including commissioning and undertaking research, to further develop economic analyses and epidemiological modelling tools supporting rapid decision making in EAD responses for priority diseases
- 1.5 - Implement innovative technologies and training to meet national EAD education and training needs
- 1.6 - Investigate existing systems or trial new systems for national EAD data management in multi-jurisdictional responses
Project updates
Future Actions
- Finalise and submit the HASTE Phase One Report, including synthesis of outcomes, impact, and lessons learned.
- Support the transition of HASTE capabilities into ongoing operational use via Biosecurity Commons, TAPPAS-2 and partner organisations.
- Continue discussions with government and research partners regarding phase 2 future collaboration and the potential continuation of simulation exercises and tool development (subject to funding).
- Maintain stakeholder engagement to ensure awareness of available tools and their application in preparedness and response contexts.
May 2026
HASTE has now progressed to final delivery and consolidation under its phase one ARDC co-investment, with all 5 work packages substantially completed and key outputs implemented and tested in operational contexts.
Analytics and modelling capability
- Core modelling workflows have been finalised, including dynamic transmission modelling, spatial kernel estimation and real-time forecasting of epidemic trajectories.
- These workflows are now integrated into the platform, enabling accessible, scenario-based decision support for end users.
- TAPPAS-2 capability has been advanced, incorporating live meteorological data to support real-time airborne spread modelling.
Operationalisation and simulation exercises
- Two simulation workshops were delivered in early 2026, focused on high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) and building on earlier lumpy skin disease (LSD) exercises.
- Workshops involved jurisdictional stakeholders and demonstrated how modelling outputs can inform real-time response decisions under outbreak conditions.
- Exercises confirmed strong demand for temporal forecasting outputs and highlighted areas for continued refinement of visualisation and usability.
- 100% of workshop survey respondents indicated strong support for continued participation in further HASTE workshops.
Engagement and collaboration
- Continued engagement with DAFF, state/territory governments, Animal Health Australia and industry peak bodies to ensure tools align with operational needs.
- Ongoing collaboration has supported awareness and uptake of HASTE tools, including showcasing capabilities to industry stakeholders and government partners.
Distribution and platform capability
- Biosecurity Commons remains the primary delivery platform for HASTE workflows, with authenticated access supporting government use.
- Enhancements to usability, documentation and workflow accessibility have been completed to support ongoing use beyond the project lifecycle.
Project status
- All core deliverables have been completed.
- Final report drafting is underway, consolidating outputs, outcomes and lessons learned across all work packages.
See more
Find out more in:
- the latest HASTE news
- the August 2025 interim report
- the HASTE Work Package 4 report, about the process and outcomes of Work Package 4’s modelling scenario (simulation exercise) workshops.