Join well known Australians Catriona Rowntree, Maggie Beer and Matt Moran as they team up with biosecurity industry ‘champions’ Melinee Leather, Ben Martin and James Brown to encourage viewers to help manage biosecurity threats.
Northern Australia, with an exposed 10,000km of coastline, rivers and inlets and a unique set of arrival pathways is vulnerable to exotic pest, disease and weed threats. The videos speak to diverse target audiences including agricultural producers, tourists and other travellers, communities and community organisations to encourage proactive involvement and vigilant farming practices to help reduce biosecurity threats and support early detection of pest and disease risks, thereby lessening the likelihood of disruption to Australia’s agricultural exports and negative impacts on our environment, cultural practices and social amenity.
Biosecurity. It’s everyone’s business.
Featured pest and disease risks include varroa mite, phylloxera, fruit fly, foot and mouth disease and avian influenza which all pose significant risks to Australia’s economy, export markets, agricultural industries, environment and way of life.
You can be a biosecurity champion too. Know your biosecurity obligations, look out for anything unusual, don’t carry prohibited fruit and vegetables across borders, clean footwear and vehicles between risk zones. These are just some of the actions the community can do to reduce biosecurity risk.
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Maggie Beer – Protecting Our Bee Populations
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Bees pollinate about a third of the world's crops providing pollination services critical to Australia's exports. Without bees, our lives would be very different.
Much loved and respected Maggie Beer explains why bees are essential to our agriculture, economy and way of life, which pests we need to keep a look out for and what you can do to help protect Australia from pests and disease.
Maggie Beer – Bird Biosecurity
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1 | 17 KB |
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In this video Maggie Beer AM continues the biosecurity conversation, discussing why biosecurity is critically important and vital to our communities.
Maggie discusses her first hand experience of the devastating affects Asian influenza had on her business in the 1990s and why we should continue to take biosecurity threats seriously.
Find out what can you do to help maintain Australia’s reputation as an exporter of high quality, clean and safe agricultural produce.
Maggie Beer – Plant Biosecurity
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1 | 14 KB |
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In this video Maggie Beer AM continues the biosecurity conversation, discussing why biosecurity is critically important and vital to our communities.
Maggie discusses her first hand experience of the devastating affects Asian influenza had on her business in the 1990s and why we should continue to take biosecurity threats seriously.
Find out what can you do to help maintain Australia’s reputation as an exporter of high quality, clean and safe agricultural produce.
Catriona Rowntree – Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy
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2 | 18 KB |
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Popular television presenter Catriona Rowntree teams with biosecurity officers and plant and animal health scientists delivering the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment’s Northern Australian Quarantine Strategy (NAQS).
The NAQS was established to provide an early detection system for exotic pests, diseases and weeds across northern Australia. NAQS activities include: plant, animal and aquatic health surveillance; biosecurity regulation in Torres Strait; insect trapping and monitoring; and biosecurity education and engagement with Indigenous rangers, remote communities, and other critical stakeholders Join Catriona in learning about the valuable work of the NAQS and what you can do to help protect Australia from exotic pests, diseases and weeds.
Catriona Rowntree – Risk Pathways
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2 | 17 KB |
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How is Australia especially vulnerable to the introduction of exotic pests, diseases and weeds?
Saibai Island in Torres Strait is only 3.5 kilometres from our nearest northern neighbour, Papua New Guinea. In Torres Strait, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment employs biosecurity officers to monitor for exotic pests and diseases and regulate movements through this risky movement pathway.
In this video Catriona teams with biosecurity officers to demonstrate the biosecurity operations in Torres Strait and why it is critical to help protect Australia’s agriculture industries, economy and way of life.
Catriona Rowntree – Top Watch!
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Keep a Top Watch! has been a unifying and consistent call-to-action supporting early warning for exotic pest, disease and weed arrivals for over thirty years. People living, working or visiting northern Australia are asked to remain vigilant for and report suspected biosecurity threats to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
Join Catriona and officers from the department to hear about what kinds of exotic pests, diseases and weeds we don’t want in our country, who is at risk and why working together and keeping a Top Watch! is so important to helping protect Australia’s tourism and agricultural and export industries.
Catriona Rowntree – Travellers and Tourists
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1 | 16 KB |
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We really do live in a beautiful country but we need you to be vigilant on your travels. Follow Catriona Rowntree as she showcases some of the most vulnerable regions of the country to the threat of exotic pests, diseases and weeds and how we can work together to keep a Top Watch! in our communities, what to look out for and what to do if you see evidence of significant disease such as numbers of dead animals like birds or fish, or if you see animals like dogs or pigs acting strangely.
Biosecurity is all about looking towards our future and protecting Australia. Biosecurity really is everyone's business.
Matt Moran – Cattle and Sentinel Herds
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2 | 17 KB |
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Popular chef and restaurateur Matt Moran knows the importance of keeping Australia’s thriving food scene safe through protecting our agriculture from certain pests and diseases that could affect our livestock and have a devastating impact on our farming industries and food sources. We have the best produce in the world and a uniquely beautiful country. Let’s keep it that way.
Matt chats to a prominent butcher in the Northern Territory and discusses what it would mean to Australia if exotic diseases like foot and mouth were to establish, why it is important to maintain good biosecurity practice and what you can do to help keep Australia safe by keeping a Top Watch! for and reporting biosecurity threats.
Matt Moran – Seafood, marine and aquatic industries
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3 | 19 KB |
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Popular chef and restaurateur Matt Moran travels to the Northern Territory to chat with a local seafood business owner, a representative from the Northern Territory Seafood Council and the senior curator of marine biology at the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory.
High quality produce is a cornerstone of many Australian businesses who depend on Australia remaining free from exotic pests and diseases that affect production in many other countries.
Discover which exotic pests threaten our aquatic industries and what could happen if they were to establish in our waters. Be a Biosecurity Champion and learn what you can do to keep a Top Watch! in your community to help keep our country free from exotic pests and diseases that could impact our agriculture, economy and way of life.
Melinee Leather – Cattle Producer, Barfield Station - Cattle and red meat industries
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2 | 16 KB |
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Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment’s 2019 Biosecurity Farm Biosecurity Producer of the Year, Melinee Leather takes us to her property in Central Queensland to explain why good biosecurity practice is critical to Australia’s commercial livestock sector and what could happen if export trade access was lost.
Help keep our economy strong and our meat industry safe by keeping a Top Watch! for potential biosecurity threats. Implement good biosecurity practices and report the first signs of pests or disease to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
James Brown – Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm – Aquaculture and marine industries
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2 | 17 KB |
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Did you know, Australia produces some of the world’s finest quality pearls?
Exotic pests and diseases are a huge risk to Australian aquatic and marine industries. They can arrive on foreign vessels through tides, winds, or on people or equipment moving from farm to farm.
Join passionate Cygnet Bay Pearl Farmer James Brown as he takes you through his long-established family cultured pearl farm, describing the unique environment his industry operates in and why it is particularly vulnerable to the threat of exotic pests and disease, what you can do by keeping a Top Watch! for marine pests and report if you see something unusual in the water or on the banks.
Ben Martin – Marto’s Mangoes – Mango and horticulture industries
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1 | 16 KB |
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2019 Young Farmer of the Year Ben Martin shows us around his farm in Bowen, North Queensland.
Committed to improving the agriculture sector for the benefit of all growers and Australians, Ben highlights some of the biggest biosecurity threats to the mango industry and shares practical on-farm biosecurity advice to all growers to mitigate the risk of endemic and exotic pests, diseases and weeds.
What can you do? Look out for pests like exotic fruit fly and red-banded caterpillars, exercise good orchard hygiene and biosecurity practices and if you suspect you have an exotic plant pest, disease or weed on your property, contact the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881. Biosecurity, it’s everyone’s business.