Australian Fruit Fly Technical Advisory Subcommittee

The Australian Fruit Fly Technical Advisory Subcommittee (AFFTAC) oversees Australia’s National Fruit Fly Management Protocol to ensure:

• A nationally coordinated approach to surveillance and management for fruit flies.
• The Protocol is technically justified.
• The Protocol is consistent with Australia’s international import and export market access conditions and policies.

Membership

AFFTAC members include fruit fly specialists from government agencies in each state, the Northern Territory, and the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.

Observers

Observers are invited by the AFFTAC chair to participate in an advisory or consultative capacity, and do not have voting rights. Current observers include:

• Plant Health Australia (PHA)

Chairing

AFFTAC is chaired on a rotational basis and is currently chaired by Dr Sonya Broughton, Chief Biosecurity Officer, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (WA).

Secretariat

Secretariat support for AFFTAC is provided by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE).

Meeting arrangements

Meetings of AFFTAC are convened twice a year in June and November. AFFTAC also convenes intersessional meetings twice a year in March and August, and as required.

Parent committee

AFFTAC is a sub-committee of the Plant Health Committee (PHC).

Terms of reference

The Australian Fruit Fly Technical Advisory Subcommittee (AFFTAC) was commissioned to develop Australia’s National Fruit Fly Management Protocol (ANFFMP) and to provide technical support for a nationally coordinated approach to surveillance and management of fruit flies.

AFFTAC achieves this by:

• Maintaining an annual work plan that reflects the subcommittee’s terms of reference, outlining key activities, expected outcomes, key deliverable timeframes and lead jurisdictions.
• Ensuring the ANFFMP is technically supported and fit for purpose, including the revision or addition of new modules.
• Determining the technical merit for inclusion of new fruit fly species of economic concern and associated management strategies into the ANFFMP.
• Providing high quality technical advice to the Plant Health Committee (PHC).
• Identifying issues to be addressed or complementary activities that need to be implemented to support a nationally coordinated approach to surveillance and management of fruit flies.
• Providing technical advice to the Subcommittee on Domestic Quarantine and Market Access (SDQMA) as it relates to market access implications.

Communiqués from the Australian Fruit Fly Technical Advisory Subcommittee (AFFTAC)

Next Meeting

The subcommittee will hold its 8th meeting in Melbourne, scheduled for the week of 21-22 June 2022.

The subcommittee looks forward to the opportunity to meet face to face after working through virtual means for an extended period.