Sheep and Goat Traceability Task Force

Australian Capital Territory	eID Implementation Dates	Comments/progress
All sheep and farmed goats born on or after this date must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving their property of birth	1 January 2025	NIL
All sheep and goats must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving a property, regardless of age	1 January 2027
Abattoirs scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	N/A - no abattoirs in the ACT
Saleyards scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	N/A - no saleyards in the ACT
Property to property movement scanned and recorded on the NLIS database	1 January 2025
New South Wales	eID Implementation Dates	Comments/progress
All sheep and farmed goats born on or after this date must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving their property of birth	1 January 2025	The new Minister for Agriculture, the Hon Tara Moriarty MLC, supports electronic identification (eID) implementation as a priority. The NSW Government announced a $38m industry support rebate package that will deliver additional investment as part of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 budgets to support the implementation of eID for sheep and farmed goats in NSW. Applications for Processors and Saleyards open 1 August 2023 – 31 January 2024. Applications for Livestock Agents and Producers open 1 October 2023 – 21 March 2024. NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and Local Land Services (LLS) staff specialising in sheep eID/ National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) continue to attend a wide range of events (including field days, livestock agents, merchandising stores, grower groups and agricultural consultants) addressing stakeholder concerns and explaining the mandatory ID process in NSW. The NSW DPI chaired Sheep & Goat Traceability Reference Group continues to meet regularly with industry representatives to discuss implementation of eID in NSW. Planning and design grant applications for saleyard and abattoir eID infrastructure changes have been reviewed. 17 saleyards and 5 abattoirs have been approved for the grants. 3 Industry Liaison Officers have commenced in the S&G Traceability (S&GT) team. S&GT team members have been presenting at industry events across NSW regarding implementation requirements for all industry sectors. NSW DPI has shared the Terms of Reference from NSW S&G Traceability Reference Group with Department of Primary Industries and Regions, South Australia (PIRSA). A review and update of the Biosecurity (NLIS) Regulation 2017 (NSW) to include eID requirements for sheep and goats commenced May/June 2023. A planning workshop was held late April 2023 to discuss eID project plans and delivery.
All sheep and goats must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving a property, regardless of age	1 January 2027
Abattoirs scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	30 June 2024
Saleyards scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	1 January 2025
Property to property movement scanned and recorded on the NLIS database	1 January 2025
Northern Territory	eID Implementation Dates	Comments/progress
All sheep and farmed goats born on or after this date must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving their property of birth	1 January 2025	The Northern Territory Livestock Act and Regulations are currently under review with a new Northern Territory Livestock Biosecurity Act and Regulations planned for implementation on 1 January 2025.
All sheep and goats must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving a property, regardless of age	1 January 2025
Abattoirs scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	1 January 2025
Saleyards scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	1 January 2025
Property to property movement scanned and recorded on the NLIS database	1 January 2025
Queensland	eID Implementation Dates	Comments/progress
All sheep and farmed goats born on or after this date must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving their property of birth	1 January 2025	Queensland supports the commitment to roll out a national sheep and goat eID and will work with stakeholders to develop and deliver an implementation plan for the State that aligns with the national commitment.
All sheep and goats must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving a property, regardless of age	1 January 2027
Abattoirs scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	1 January 2025
Saleyards scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	1 January 2025
Property to property movement scanned and recorded on the NLIS database	1 January 2025
South Australia	eID Implementation Dates	Comments/progress
All sheep and farmed goats born on or after this date must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device  before leaving their property of birth	1 January 2025	The Government of South Australia has announced that it will deliver additional investment of $9.3m as part of the 2023-24 budget to support the implementation of electronic identification (eID) for farmed sheep and goats in South Australia. This will provide for a 75% rebate for essential supply chain eID infrastructure, and a 50% eID tag discount for the coming two financial years to help producers prepare for 1 Jan 2025. Applications are now open for rebates of electronic identification (eID) devices purchased in 2023. The eID device rebate is available to sheep and goat producers who purchased blue year-of-birth NLIS accredited tags between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023. Producers can apply for a rebate on the purchase price of eligible eID devices of 50% up to a cap of $0.95 (GST exclusive) per tag. Please visit the PIRSA device rebate webpage for more information on eID device rebates - PIRSA Producers have so far purchased more than 860,000 eID devices since the beginning of the year (2023). The government will provide further details to industry on the eligibility and application process for essential eID infrastructure rebate.. It is anticipated that rebate guidelines for saleyards and processors will be available in December 2023. Essential infrastructure rebates for the remaining supply chain sectors will follow in 2024. A PIRSA -led Industry Advisory Committee, with representation from all sectors of the supply chain, has been established to advise government on promotion and implementation.
All sheep and goats must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving a property, regardless of age	1 January 2027
Abattoirs scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	tbc
Saleyards scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	tbc
Property to property movement scanned and recorded on the NLIS database	tbc
Tasmania	eID Implementation Dates	Comments/progress
All sheep and farmed goats born on or after this date must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving their property of birth	Tasmanian Government yet to make a formal decision	The Red Meat Industry Steering Committee through the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association have recently released its Phase 1 report on the implementation of sheep and goat electronic identification (eID) in Tasmania. The report has been delivered to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the contained recommendations are currently under consideration.
All sheep and goats must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving a property, regardless of age	Tasmanian Government yet to make a formal decision
Abattoirs scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	Tasmanian Government yet to make a formal decision
Saleyards scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	Tasmanian Government yet to make a formal decision
Property to property movement scanned and recorded on the NLIS database	Tasmanian Government yet to make a formal decision
Victoria	eID Implementation Dates	Comments/progress
All sheep and farmed goats born on or after this date must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving their property of birth	1 January 2017	Victoria’s implementation of eID was completed in January 2022.
All sheep and goats must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving a property, regardless of age	1 January 2022
Abattoirs scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	31 December 2017
Saleyards scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	31 March 2018
Property to property movement scanned and recorded on the NLIS database	31 March 2018
Western Australia	eID Implementation Dates	Comments/progress
All sheep and farmed goats born on or after this date must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device within six-month of birth or before leaving their property of birth (whichever is earlier)	1 January 2025	The WA government has committed $25.6m to assist industry transition to mandatory electronic identification (eID) for sheep and goats. The WA Sheep and Goat Advisory Group will continue to meet on the implementation of eID in WA. A Tag Incentive Program went live on 28 March 2023, offering a 75 cent per tag discount for fully accredited sky blue (year of birth colour) eID tags. The 2023 tag incentive payment scheme has been extended until 31 December 2024 and will include black eID tags throughout 2024. Funds and discounts are being handled at manufacturer level to minimise administration. An additional TIP round for 2025 will be considered and announced in 2024. Since 28 March 2023 WA producers have purchased in excess of 2.2 million eID tags for sheep and goats, giving a good indication of acceptance and planning by the WA sheep and goat industries. An infrastructure grant scheme, announced in 16 November 2023, has been is being developed to assist with purchase of essential eID equipment and infrastructure upgrades in critical congregation points along the supply chain. A first round of funding, which will focus on priority sites and be invitation only, is expected to open in November 2023 with an openwith a second, public and open round to commence in February 2024. Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development staff specialising in sheep eID/National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) continue to attend a wide range of events to help address stakeholder concerns and explain the mandatory ID process in WA, including field days with livestock agent companies, grower groups and agricultural consultants.
All sheep and goats must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving a property, regardless of age	1 July 2026
Abattoirs scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	1 July 2025
Saleyards scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	1 July 2025
Property to property movement recorded and scanned on the NLIS database	1 July 2026
Commonwealth	eID Implementation Dates	Comments/progress
All sheep and farmed goats born on or after this date must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving their property of birth	N/A	The first of the Commonwealth $20m co-investment arrangements with states and territories have been finalised with details available on the Federal Financial Relations website (federalfinancialrelations.gov.au). The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry continues to work with the remaining states and territories to finalise their co-investment arrangements. Work is underway with Integrity Systems Company, administrator of the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), to support the uplift of the NLIS database and associated systems. This is a significant whole-of-system, multi-year undertaking that will deliver benefits for the broader Australian livestock sector.
All sheep and goats must be fitted with an accredited NLIS eID device before leaving a property, regardless of age	N/A
Abattoirs scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	N/A
Saleyards scan devices and notify movements to the NLIS database	N/A
Property to property movement recorded and scanned on the NLIS database	N/A

Industry	Comments
Australian Dairy Farmers	NIL at this time
Australian Meat Industry Council	NIL at this time
Cattle Council of Australia	NIL at this time
Goat Industry Council Australia	NIL at this time
SAFEMEAT	NIL at this time
Sheep Producers	Sheep Producers Australia (SPA) is the national peak body of the Australian Sheepmeat industry and is responsible for advocating for issues that are beyond state borders, individual regions or enterprises. A key policy of, and request made by SPA of government has been the implementation of individual electronic identification (eID) for sheep in conjunction with broader whole-of-system reform to nationally strengthen traceability for biosecurity, food safety, emergency response, and to support market access claims. We must continuously improve our systems to protect our producers, industry and markets. The SPA’s Policy Council has representation from all State Farming Organisations and across the supply chain. SPA engages regularly with its Policy Council and members on traceability reform and the outcomes of the Sheep and Goat Traceability Task Force , as well as provide them the opportunity to give feedback on State-based issues related to national traceability reform and harmonisation. SPA contributes to traceability programs and projects, and collaborates with Integrity Systems Company (ISC), Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), SAFEMEAT, state and federal government and industry partners. This collaboration ensures effective compliance and enforcement activities and that targeted research and development is implemented to improve national traceability for sheep.
Wool Producers	WoolProducers is the peak representative body representing Australian woolgrowers and plays a critical role in working closely with companies and entities funded by woolgrower funds including compulsory levies or fees for service. Its mission is to develop constructive and profitable outcomes for woolgrowers nationally. WoolProducers Australia is committed to supporting a fully integrated national traceability system that meets the national traceability standards. To accept the implementation of individual digital/electronic identification of livestock only when the following system enhancements have been implemented: The establishment of a nationally harmonised traceability system that operates according to nationally consistent business rules, Investment into a database capable of handling all farmed FMD susceptible livestock species, The creation of an equitable funding arrangement for both the establishment and ongoing maintenance of an enhanced system. Ensuring that any national traceability system is able to incorporate technological advancements that ensures that NTPS are being met while making the system more cost competitive for producers
Integrity Systems Company (ISC)	ISC has prioritised developing the existing NLIS database to ensure it has the capacity to ingest the significant increase in volume of data expected with full implementation of sheep and goat eID nationally. A range of enhancements have been implemented over the past 12 months to support the scalability and performance of the system and this work will continue throughout 2023-2024. ISC has been awarded a $22.5m Australian Government grant to support uplift of the NLIS database. The Project will be delivered in six stages over three years between Jul-23 and Jun-26. The first stage of the project – a Strategic Discovery phase – is nearing completion, and has engaged broadly with stakeholders to determine the vision and scope for the new platform build. The second stage of the project – Detailed Discovery and Define – is now underway. This stage will conduct a current state assessment of the NLIS database to document how it is currently used by industry and government, and will develop a future state definition for the new platform that will inform the architecture, design, and build phases of the project over the coming years. Governance and consultation frameworks for the project have been established, and a comprehensive stakeholder engagement and communication plan is in the process of being developed to ensure stakeholders remain informed and engaged as the project progresses.

Individual eID is mandatory in Victoria. Watch Agriculture Victoria’s Transition to Electronic Identification of Sheep and Goats in Victoria to learn more about its experience.

WHERE’S WOOLLY

A story of mob-based movement vs eID tracing

Under the current national system, we track sheep and goats as mobs from property to property, using property identification codes, PIC’s.

Let's look at how we currently track our sheep and goats under our mob-based movement system, meet Woolly.

Woolly the sheep lives on River Run Farm with 630 others.

Woolly's being moved to Wattle Downs Farm, along with 400 other sheep. Wattle Downs, Farm houses 1,300 sheep, including a few rams, which the owner bought from a breeder.

Sometime later, Wattle Downs decides to move a number of their sheep off the property.

60 sheep are sent to the abattoir, where 1,400 others have already been delivered.

75 sheep are sent to Shady Tree Farmstead, where there are already 575 head on property.

170 sheep are sent to a sale yard to be sold with 6,200 others. 500 sheep from that sale yard and moved to a feedlot housing 8,000 more sheep.

Finally, approximately 1,200 feedlot sheep are moved to an export depot where there are already 21,000 sheep.

But wait, where's Woolly?

Just through Woolly's potential journey, we've come into contact with about 40,280 sheep.

It's at this point we find out that the rams which were brought onto Wattle Downs Farm, where Woolly had been living, were carrying a disease.

Since we don't know where Woolly ended up or even if she is still at Wattle Downs, we have to trace all movements of all sheep off Wattle Downs Farm through all possible paths that the disease could have flowed through.

We also learned that the same breeder which sold the rams to Wattle Downs, sold to 26 other properties.

We now have to multiply all of these traces by 26.

That's 1,047,280 potentially exposed sheep and more than 130 pathways to follow.

But let's just look at finding Woolly in this instance.

If Woolly had been tagged with an eID tag with a unique electronic number, we would have been able to trace her and the others from Wattle Downs as individual sheep. Rather than needing to follow all the potential pathways they could have travelled down and all the other sheep they could have come into contact with.

Having individual eID allows us to find Woolly.

The time to contain a disease is reliant on the rate of traceability available. As a component of the whole system, eID helps us to trace specific stock, and know which others had contact with them, improving our rate of detection, containment and response.

Welcome, everyone tonight to our webinar. Thank you so much for joining us.

Before we start, I would like to begin by acknowledging the ancestral lands we are all meeting on tonight right across Australia. I would like to acknowledge our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the First Australians, whose over 65,000 years of tradition, culture and knowledge we all continue to learn and benefit from today.

Today, Bonnie and I are joining from Wiradjuri Country, and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future.

I also acknowledge that because this is a virtual event, were meeting on different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands from right across Australia.

So I acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands you are on wherever you are and pay respect to their Elders past, present and future.

A very warm welcome to everyone joining tonight. Thank you so much for your time to joining us for our first sheep and goat electric ID webinar.

Obviously, this topic has generated quite a lot of discussion across industry, and we're pleased to be able to start the conversation with you this evening.

My name is Bonnie Skinner, and I'm the chief executive officer of Sheep Producers Australia, the peak national representative body for the Australian sheep meat industry and today, my co-host is Jo Hall.

Jo, would you like to introduce yourself?

Thanks, Bonnie and hi everyone, thank you for joining us tonight from across the country.

I'm Jo Hall CEO of wool producers Australia and we’re the Peak representative body advocate advocating on behalf of wool growers and their interests across a range of issues, including traceability.

So obviously everyone is aware by now that earlier this year in September, our agricultural ministers agreed to work with industry towards the implementation of mandatory national individual electronic identification or eID’s sheep and goats by the first of January 2025.

So, as part of this arrangement of moving towards this transition date, there's been a sheep and goat traceability taskforce established which has been set up under the National Biosecurity Committee to jointly develop and oversee the national implementation.

Both Jo and I, both on this taskforce as representatives of our retrospective sheep and wool industries, and we've also been working as a part of the peak industry body government co-design initiative to help inform the implementation design.

So this this process has involved a lot of consultation to date which has been around 42 targeted sessions and interviews with everyone along the supply chain.

Including, you know, extensive reviews of research and the learnings that have come out of Victoria, which has provided such a valuable case study in terms of looking to broader implementation of eID across the country.

And it's really important to note that since the introduction of the NLIS for sheep and goats, uh, both sheep, goat and wool industries have made a pretty significant contribution to the development of traceability and the effectiveness of the systems.

And we've always been working very hard to make changes along the way that can improve those traceability outcomes and build capacity in the national system.

It's really important from our perspective that you know, from the national perspective that as we move towards this new system that we have to be looking towards that really effective harmonisation of standards across the country and centralisation so that we have a truly national system.

So as a part of this process. We've been working very collaboratively to design the implementation of this reform. And a lot of that builds on the significant industry and jurisdictional progress that's been made in the livestock space traceability space for some time.

So tonight, the topics that we’ll cover include why traceability is important to all of us.

How eID for sheep and goats helps trace sheep more effectively than the mob-based system.

Along with the big questions that we're hearing from you.

We have a panel who will talk about their practical experience using eID and experts will paint the broader picture of why traceability and the eID is so critical for us right now.

And we'll also hear from Matt Koval First assistant secretary for trade reform who will share some final reflections on where to from here.

Of course, the announcements that have been made by ministers has prompted a lot of discussion amongst industry, and we've definitely been in the thick of it as a part of that.

And we know as the peak representative bodies for industry that the cost transition from the current visual mob-based system to a system that's based on individual identification and all of the system changes that have to go with that to support that transition is going to be the most significant step into evolving into a more robust system.

So, broadly speaking, we've been fielding questions from a lot of different people in the supply chain, and they can really be themed around some really key areas that we've got on the screen now.

So of course, tagging and all the costs associated with moving to this system going to be at the forefront of, uh, many producers minds and certainly is one of the big issues that comes up when we talk about moving to the system.

Um, one of the other key areas, of course, is the scanners and the readers and the other technology and the infrastructure that needs to be able to support this transition and what that means for each part of the supply chain.

And the big one, no surprises here is all around the timing and what everyone needs to do to prepare for this transition, and when will people find out more?

So it's really important to highlight that, you know, as industry bodies were working together with the jurisdictions to address these issues and you'll see in the webinars coming over the next few weeks and months, these issues will be covered off, particularly by those individual jurisdictions as they relate to their specific areas.

Um, it's the role of the task force to work through what the national costs are.

And of course, the focus for us is to minimise any additional cost, as well as to work with hardware and software providers and look at funding options that can be looked at for the implementation but also really importantly, the ongoing maintenance of the system.

So tonight, what we wanted to focus on is understanding a little bit around the fundamentals of why we're making the changes and, importantly hear about what's gone down in Victoria.

Because the purpose of this national approach and the task force is, as I mentioned earlier, the harmonisation of this system across the states, and we're also going to talk about a little bit about why that's important as well later in the webinar.

Uh, Jo, do you have anything you'd like to add to them?

Yeah, Thanks, Bonnie. I'll just say that the taskforce is in the process of creating a shared digital platform where you can submit questions, read further information and receive regular updates.

Stay tuned for updates on this by your regular networks, for now you can submit your question to the taskforce email or you can visit the DAFF Website.

Both of these links are available on the Eventbrite invitation.

This webcast is being recorded, so if you have colleagues, friends or family who missed out on attending, it will be made available on the DAFF website.

If you have further questions, please send them through after we have our panel and we will post updates on the DAFF website.

Let's hear from Minister Watt who will share a recent message about traceability.

Good day, everyone. Murray Watt here Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

I'm really pleased to get to contribute to this forum today as you work towards the goal of improving Australia's traceability system.

By enhancing our national traceability systems, we can deliver a higher value product to exporters while protecting our country from the threat of pest and disease outbreaks.

I see traceability as a fundamental enabler for economic benefit and prosperity, as well as ensuring our biosecurity and food safety for consumers.

These issues are also the top of my agenda, given the serious biosecurity risks that we know are on our doorstep.

I'm committed to an inclusive and collaborative approach led by industry to co design our future traceability systems across all products and commodities along the supply chain.

You might have seen that one of my top priorities coming into government was to take action on livestock traceability, something that's been in the too hard basket for far too long.

So I'm really proud that with my state and territory counterparts, we've agreed to work with industry on important reforms, including to work towards a national implementation of individual electronic identification for sheep and goats from the first of January 2025.

And I'm pleased to tell you the work is now underway to make that happen.

There's also scope to reduce fragmentation, duplication and inconsistency in traceability systems across Australia.

I really look forward to seeing the results of deliberations today and through the formal consultation process. Good luck today. It's really important work that you're doing.

Thank you for your video Minister Watt I have to say this industry organisations working in the interest of all producers and working with government it's rewarding to see the attention paid to the importance of livestock traceability by Mr Watt and the government.

Because really, it's only gonna be through really effective collaboration across industry and Government this transition is going to be practical and fit for purpose now into the future.

So why traceability is so important to us all? Um, it's my favourite topic. I could talk about it all night, but really, um, the things we wanted to cover with you are two key reasons first being so that we can be in the best recovery position if there is an emergency animal disease outbreak or food safety incident.

And the second thing, which is obviously very closely tied to that, is maintaining market access.

So what do we mean when we say we are positioning ourselves to be in the best recovery position? We have always taken the threat of an emergency animal disease incursion like foot and mouth disease extremely seriously, and have been deliberately and proactively working on the continual improvement of Australia's livestock biosecurity capabilities, including traceability. The rapid and reliable tracing of sheep and goats will play a significant part in emergency disease response.

The faster animals are traced, the greater the chance of controlling the disease is therefore minimising the economic and social effects of such an incursion.

FMD is one of Australia's greatest biosecurity risk and would devastate Australia's livestock industries.

It is estimated that if an FMD outbreak in Australia occurred, it would cost over $80 billion.

If there's an outbreak. Business stops.

No one exports sheep or goat products, including woollen fibre. Infected and at risk animals will be destroyed and whole towns would be without key employers, which will decimate not just regional economies but also our national economy.

We therefore need to be in the best position possible to avoid this, and while the main focus will always be on keeping this disease is out of Australia, we must be as prepared as possible if the unthinkable was to happen.

Increasing traceability in the sheep and goat industries is expected to generate the greatest benefits from reductions in the extent, duration and cost of a disease or pest incursion.

But the second key reason is maintaining market access.

Exports represent 70% of the total value of Australia's agricultural production, with the remaining 30% consumed domestically.

A loss of reputation and confidence caused by a livestock disease outbreak or a chemical contamination incident would incur large and long-lasting costs for Australia's export markets, and effective tracing system will enable an efficient, effective and targeted response.

Maintaining market access is extremely important for us all to have a profitable, sheep and goat industry.

So we know a lot of you are probably wondering what's the point of implementing eID when we already have a visual tag based system in place to trace sheep across the country?

It's one of the biggest things that we've tended to talk about as industry when we've been trying to understand the move to the system and whether it's the right thing for our industry.

So it's really important to note that tags or identification devices are just one of the vital components of our NLI system, and that includes also the use of movement documents like national vendor declarations and the NLIS Data Base and the data that's stored on there.

Um, so what we've got as part of this Webinar is a video to try and illustrate the difference that the eID makes particularly those for rare disease outbreak.

And it is one of the more difficult things try and convey to industry participants to show just exactly how sheep are traced through supply chain and the challenges that are presented by the current visual system and where the efficiency lie.

When we start talking about eID. Since eID were introduced for cattle many years ago and, of course, for sheep in Victoria, back in 2017, most of our efforts have been focused on trying to understand what the benefits are, particularly from a biosecurity and market access point of view.

What efficiencies and accuracy do we get out of an eID system? And what are the potential performance that we can achieve if we were to implement the system nationally?

And what we've found is a part of looking at all of those things is the evidence that shows us that the current visual, mob-based system, is not as quick or as accurate, as tracing the movement of sheep and goats as we need it to be. For livestock to be traceable and lifetime traceable, we need to be able to verify where they've been each time they move through the supply chain from their property of birth, right up until their processed.

So when we're using eID as opposed to a visual plastic tag importantly, the verification of these movements occurs through the scanning process, and what that means is that each scanned animal links that tag animal to consigner, a location and a date.

And really importantly, a link is also established with other scan the animals also present at that location, which really helps when you're doing contact tracing, which is something we all experienced when we had the Covid pandemic.

So let's now take a look at what traceability means on the ground through the experiences of Woolly the sheep.

Beth Greene, manager for the Livestock I.D and traceability, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development in Western Australia, has helped to bring Woolly's story to life and the impacts of what happens without eID. Let's hear from Beth in her video now.

Under the current national system, we track sheep and goats as mobs from property to property, using property identification codes, PIC’s.

Let's look at how we currently track our sheep and goats under our mob-based movement system, meet Woolly. Woolly the sheep lives on River Run Farm with 630 others.

Woolly's being moved to Wattle Downs Farm, along with 400 other sheep. Wattle Downs, Farm houses 1,300 sheep, including a few rams, which the owner bought from a breeder.

Sometime later, Wattle Downs decides to move a number of their sheep off the property.

60 sheep are sent to the abattoir, where 1,400 others have already been delivered.

75 sheep are sent to Shady Tree Farmstead, where there are already 575 head on property.

170 sheep are sent to a sale yard to be sold with 6,200 others 500 sheep from that sale yard and moved to a feedlot housing 8,000 more sheep.

Finally, approximately 1,200 feedlot sheep are moved to an export depot where there are already 21,000 sheep.

But wait, where's Woolly?

Just through Woolly's potential journey, we've come into contact with about 40,280 sheep.

It's at this point we find out that the rams, which were brought onto Wattle Downs Farm where Woolly had been living, were carrying a disease.

Since we don't know where Woolly ended up or even if she is still at Wattle Downs, we have to trace all movements of all sheep off Wattle Downs farm through all possible paths that the disease could have flowed through.

We also learned that the same breeder which sold the rams to Wattle Downs, sold to 26 other properties.

We now have to multiply all of these traces by 26.

That's 1,047,280 potentially exposed sheep and more than 130 pathways to follow.

But let's just look at finding Woolly in this instance.

If Woolly had been tagged with an eID tag with a unique electronic number, we would have been able to trace her and the others from Wattle Downs as individual sheep. Rather than needing to follow all the potential pathways they could have travelled down and all the other sheep they could have come into contact with.

Having individual eID allows us to find Woolly.

The time to contain a disease is reliant on the rate of traceability available as a component of the whole system eID helps us to trace specific stock and know which others have been in contact with them, improving our rate of detection, containment and response.

So you can see how quickly those numbers blow out when you're trying to trace sheep in an event, whether it be a food safety incident or a biosecurity or emergency animal disease type situation.

So the transition to eID is going to play a really important part in ensuring that we're all going to benefit from tracing sheep and goats.

And it really needs to be seen as an investment into keeping our livestock, our businesses and our livelihood safe, because it gives us that greater ability to control the disease of food safety incidents as quickly as we can, and really importantly minimise any trade or market access impact that might occur as a result.

I think introducing a fit for purpose and value for money mandatory system needs to be driven by this improved traceability of sheep and goats. But really importantly, this needs to be done while we minimise disruption to the supply chain because for eID to be effective scanning all points of interaction must be efficient, meaning it can't slow down the process. And importantly, it has to be accurate.

But it would be remiss of us not to say that of course, eID has other potentials outside of traceability to increase the accuracy and efficiency of data that can be captured for a range of other uses.

Um, things like provenance tracking and on farm business management and the realisation of these benefits are going to be dependent on the availability and the suitability of hardware and software that is fit for purpose.

And it will be up to produce this in particular to take up the opportunities that are afforded by a national eID system.

So we're now going to hear from our panel who have a range of experience, and are here to address some of the key issues.

We're very lucky to have with us today Belinda Dexter. Belinda has worked in the lamb processing sector for more than 20 years and is involved in the implementation of the traceability system at A L C. to make compliance as well as customer requirements.

We also have Rick Gates, who is co-owner of Gates Goats Rick has been involved in the harvested range land goat industry for over 30 years and was a councillor on the Goat Industry Council of Australia for 10 years.

Ben Fahy, who is the manager of livestock traceability for Agricultural Victoria. Ben, has extensive experience in rolling out eID. Playing a key role in the Victorian implementation.

And finally, but not least is Sarah Britton. Sarah is the New South Wales Chief Petty Officer and leaves New South Wales DPS Animal Biosecurity unit in the prevention and control of exotic and endemic pests and animal diseases. She represents the New South Wales and the Animal Health Committee, leading the development of animal health policy and operations at a state and national level.

Over recent years, Sarah led the National Biosecurity Committee Working Group to Progress Safe Meat Recommendations one and three, which led to the development of the sheep goat traceability taskforce and was a catalyst for where we are now.

So we've talked a little bit today about the eID and why it's important and the importance of traceability. But Belinda obviously really keen to hear from you your experience in Victoria from the processing perspective, particularly having gone through the transition in the implementation of Victoria, what was that experience like and how’s the technology helped your business along the way.

Thanks Bonnie. Look, it's been a really interesting journey for our business. And I guess for the industry as a whole in Victoria through, you know, ever since it was introduced back in 2017. I think, you know, like many people on this call, they may have some trepidation and concerns about what it means for them and how it might work.

But I think our experience over the last few years will show that the work that you put into it and the learning that Victoria certainly has experienced will be invaluable to the roll out nationally, and across all our states, which is, you know, such a really important thing that we need to achieve.

So I would say like the ag sector generally, the processing sector is really dynamic, and we, you know, we're constantly looking to do things more efficiently and better than we have in the past, and I think our experience is that moving with technology to achieve a more efficient traceability system through the use of the eID was just a natural progression for our business and for our industry. And it was really something that that we needed to do.

We were, I guess initially we were building on the original compliance requirements that we needed to achieve, um, as part of that traceability system and then, you know, looking towards the additional benefit that we that we can gain as a business and it's an industry.

I think one of the key things for us was our market access and the expectations of our customers, particularly international customers, but certainly from a domestic perspective as well.

Now they're really you know, there's a fundamental, um, I guess there's a fundamental belief in Australia that we've got excellent food safety. We have an amazing reputation, um, but we need to be able to back it up and continue to back it up with new technology and new ways of doing things.

And I think obviously that electronic eID system is absolutely critical tool as part of that and certainly to meet the expectations of our markets. So you know, and that's growing sophistication. If we look at our EU market, you know there are requirements around what they want us to be able to show that we can do and what we can prove that we can do and the eID factors into that throughout that process.

So, um, and I guess that there's a marketing side, of course, which is really important. So Bonnie, you touched on it earlier. It's the provenance that's the point of origin and it's the story behind our products that are really important that we want to be able to verify and show, um and then really critical for what we're what we're achieving with the system is that ability to trace individual animals, you know, in a timely, efficient and accurate way.

And you know ALC has about 12,000 carcasses processed every day. So, like that fantastic video of Woolly um, you know, it's a huge process to be tracing individual carcasses certainly can't do it if you don't have electronic systems. So for us, it's a tool that allows us to source information quickly.

And so you know, in instances such as food safety or biosecurity issue. You know, time is of the essence. And I would also say that, you know, like most of the ag sector, I think, um, you know, it's always a challenge to get human resources and to get people on the ground.

And this system again helps us to, uh, to utilise the electronic resources in tandem with our own people and, you know, and continues to make it a more robust model for us.

So yeah, look, I think from that perspective, which is just one part of, I guess what we what we are able to use the system for it's been it's been really important.

Thanks Belinda, for that perspective. I mean, we sort of talked about the start of the session, the fact that we're an exporting nation, you know, we're exporting 70% of what we produce and certainly the success the land industry has been built off that export and maintaining that global market access as you talked about being so important. And, you know, particularly for the goat meat industry this, um, and the success and the growth we’re seeing there.

Uh, from what you're seeing, of course, having traceability systems that underpin that growth and ensure that we can maintain that access is going to be really important for the prosperity and the growth of those industries. So thank you so much for your insights on that. Jo, I'll hand to you.

Thanks, Bonnie.

And thanks, Belinda. As we have just touched on this traceability reform isn't just about sheep. This transition to eID’s also includes goats. So the approach for harvesting range land goats are still being worked through. But from your perspective, Rick, can you walk us through why goats are important in this transition to eID.

Thanks, Jo.

Uh, goats are an important part of the red meat industry, with you were expecting over 2.5 million to be processed in the next 12 months.

So and the goat industry and, uh, the Goat Industry Council supports improved traceability and can see the benefit. And I can see the benefit. I'm not part of the Goat Industry Council anymore, but I can see the benefit of individual IDs with a robust system in place to support those tags. I think that's important.

You know the tags, the tags won't solve the problem. You need the system behind those tags. Um, I think, you know that is, that is very important. But here, uh, approximately two million of these goats of two million of these 2.5 million will be harvested range, land.

Um, so they're mustered out of the wild and yarded, and normally go direct to depose or, uh, or, uh, to register depot, that is, or to a to a processor.

So these harvest range land goats currently move, uh, tag free to those depots and processes. So here lies the challenge for the goat industry.

Uh, an estimated 2,000-3,000 producers or harvesters are involved. And those, uh, those producers, if to apply tags will be will be looking at around in my calculations around $100,000 per producer, which, uh, there's a quick 30,000 comes out of that with a handler. Uh, that is I consider safe enough to handle these larger animals.

So?

So with that and with that, there's a 12 month wait on those handlers at the moment so you can see that it won't take long to run up $100,000. But, uh, in saying that, and many, many listening on here tonight, will know at present for why I'm not sure the capital equipment, infrastructure and labour are difficult to find.

And, uh, you've only got to go and try and buy a Toyota Land Cruiser at the moment and see. See what, see how that all ends.

Um, but in saying all that, I reiterate that the goat industry supports improved traceability, and I personally believe that the electronic tags and individual ID is the way to move forward.

But when we're going to need the goat industry, particularly the harvested goat industry will need, it's going to need a lot of time and a lot of money and to make it a time so that it can be afforded and so that it can be done safely.

Uh, so tags can be applied safely and, also so that they can be done in a manner that's relatively quick so that there's no animal welfare issues so that you limit the animal welfare issues of holding gates.

But I do again, I support what you're doing that we we've got a lot of work to do.

Thanks, Jo.

Thanks Rick. very, um, you've articulated a number of challenges that the goat industry are facing under this transition to eID and it's why it's so important to have people like yourself and the Goat Industry Council represented in these discussions so that we can work through those solutions and find practical solutions to all of those issues that you just outlined.

But thanks again.

Thanks, Jo.

Thank you Rick.

Thank you, Jo.

I'm going now to Ben. Um, of course, we've seen the implementation of eID in Victoria. That process started in 2017. So we’re not starting from scratch, it's provided an opportunity for us to take a lot of learnings from that implementation process to things that work well, things that perhaps could have been done differently. And I'm very keen to hear from you and for you to share about what's been important in terms of your process in designing the rollout in Victoria. What are the top three learnings that you think that we should be taking into consideration when we're thinking about the national implementation approach.

Yeah. Thanks, Bonnie. Uh, and great to hear the conversation so far, I think, from our perspective, um, you know, both government and industry some of the key learnings we had was just really make sure that people understand the system itself.

What are the base level requirements? What do you have to do in your particular part of the supply chain? and understand you know, if you want to just manage the basic biosecurity information, which is terribly important, as we've heard all the way through this, then what are the simple things that you need to do that.

But then, if you want to maximise some of the benefits that come from sheep eID and the tag and the reader technology and the software, then you can start to learn and build on that understanding the fundamentals and understanding that each person in the supply chain has that responsibility to do their part and make sure the system works as well as it can.

I think one of the second thing is just, um, making sure that you go to the correct information sources. There are always in any of these new systems or introduction of different technology. There are, you know, misinformation. There are myths out there, but making sure that you do go to the sources that can provide you with either an actual hands-on experience or they can provide you with some information and details that you know, are accurate and truly reflect how the system works.

I think you know, we saw quite a few producers that obviously changed over to putting electronic tags in their ears, as opposed to visual tags but didn't really see that the rest of the supply chain was doing the rest of the work their meant to do – scanning the animals as they went into sale yards, scanning them at abattoirs, because they didn't see any change as they moved their sheep. They put a tag in, they moved the sheep and they didn't see that agents were working hard at sale yards, it's sad managers are working hard there, abattoirs are doing the same thing, so just really understanding what's going on and get your information from an accurate source.

The other one is it's we're talking about today about foot and mouth disease and possible disease incursions and minimising that impact and the same risk with food safety incidents.

But we've found, along with industry, that it provides some significant daily benefits it's used daily to have some accurate numbers, ensure that livestock are going where they are meant to be going and importantly, verifying that when an animal with eID tag is scanned at a certain point, we know that it was physically residing there, and it gives us that really great accuracy.

So, it is a valuable tool that is used daily. It's not just having there to manage a disease incursion.

From a timing perspective. And as I said before, obviously there are a lot of learnings to come out of Victoria in terms of the way that that rollout happened and noting that that was a brand new system, so to speak for the sheep industry and lots of differences exist there for sheep and goat industries compared to the cattle and the different considerations that had to be taken, particularly through the supply chain and when we're thinking about the large volumes of numbers of sheep that go through the sale yards, what are your comments or your thoughts on what we need to be thinking about from a timing perspective at the national level? Given that this has been one of the areas of concern and questions that we’re fielding at the moment in terms of what that transition period might look like?

Yeah, look, it's a great question, I think one of the major benefits that we've got and Belinda touched on it earlier is that industry have worked very hard to implement this in Victoria. Over the last five years they've implemented new technology that didn't exist before 2017. They've built software with the software companies. They've managed to refine the way they might capture the data, the placement of readers on an abattoir. For example.

Instead of having them always on the kill floor, they might move them back to an earlier point as the animals are coming up onto the kill floor. So I think there's that work that's been done, and everything that is used in Victoria is now commercially available. It's off the shelf. It's people can see it working. They can come and visit. They can talk to any of the industry members across the supply chain, but they can have a look at it and they know that that particular hardware or reader or software is available and can be implemented into where they fit within the supply chain. So I think that's probably the biggest part of this is a lot of the hard work, and R and D has been done.

That's not saying that there will be continual improvements. We know, for example, the software companies continually add, you know, advancements into their software platforms. But certainly, the hard work has been done in putting in place trialling and getting it refined so that's working, working very smoothly.

And I suppose what we'd like to see is that technology and functionality now moved from just in Victoria to across to other states and territories as we know that there is significant movement both into Victoria and out of Victoria of sheep and goats, and so it's integral that we continue to have this as a national system.

Thanks, Ben, over you, Jo.

Yeah look, I'd really like to thank you, Ben. Um, for those valuable insights into the Victorian experience, we've been really lucky as a taskforce to be able to use you and your experience as a sounding board to these early deliberations.

Moving on to Sarah in your role as chief veterinary officer, as well as the significant role you played in the biosecurity space, why have the federal and state Ag Ministers decided that a national approach to traceability is important.

Thanks, Jo.

And Ben just touched on that just as he was finishing his talk just how important this is. You've heard from a number of the speakers just that we are an exporting nation and our international trading partners, they view us as one country, so we're not trading as individual states. And our national traceability underpins our export trade and the confidence that we provide that we are able to trace animals and our disease free status.

So it's really, really important that we can, trade as a nation.

And the other key part I think we saw during the Covid outbreak recently is the difference between all the states and we saw difference in the way they contact traced. We saw a difference in movement restrictions and it did cause quite a lot of issues as each state did something different. So I think it's really important to have harmonisation across all the states and especially about legislation and compliance.

Because, you know, we have variation, we potentially have people move animals that will skip states or go to a state and you know, it could cause quite a lot of issues.

You know, just we've been able to monitor and be able to trace animals so absolutely important that we have harmonisation across all the states and that again is going to underpin our market access.

I think one of the other key things that's really important, Woolly the sheep highlighted, that is the difficulty in being able to find individual animals. And we have a number of examples that we deal with weekly that show us this recent in recent years. You know, we had an anthrax outbreak on a property in western New South Wales which had sheep and cattle, and we normally do a trace back on those properties for 21 days.

Previously and they did have cattle and sheep that had moved off. Those cattle have gone to an export abattoir up into Queensland. We then discovered, as we were tracing that they had actually been split. Some had gone to Northern Tableland. Some had gone to Queensland, were able to find five of the cattle that were in a paddock of 500 animals within an hour or so, and we knew where everyone had gone.

We knew that then no animals had gone to the export abattoir. But we couldn't do the same with the sheep because they've been split and it was much, much more difficult to know where they had actually travelled to.

But I think that Woolly the video really highlights that ability to be able to trace and be able to do it quickly, and especially in the face of the disease outbreak.

In another recent example, we had we did a foot and mouth disease exclusion, which we do regularly each week, but this one was a good practise run we did with Victoria and showed the difference between the systems that we've got.

We had 900 sheep that went to an export abattoir in New South Wales and 1,100 that went to a sale yard in Victoria. And the flow on effect from that is if we did have a disease in those in an animal that had gone from the property in New South Wales from the sale yard in Victoria, there was 26,000 sheep that then went to 200 properties and to 11 different abattoirs and then across the border to New South Wales and out, and you just see the significant amount of tracing that would be required.

And that was just in one day, one lot of animals that then had split and moved into two different states and the flow on effects.

I think it just highlights the importance of traceability. We saw it in the UK 2001, that one of the biggest issues was that poor traceability of sheep, it led to an increased response times and increased cost and ability, and it also results in increased spread.

So I think it's a really important thing that we can get in and trace early and we can actually reduce the spread of the disease and then the impacts to all the producers.

Because ultimately, what happens when we are in a disease outbreak if we aren't able to be sure about where the tracing and what we've got, it will be larger areas of restriction. And so we may have bigger controller areas of restricted areas, which means that's got a greater impact economically and socially for everyone.

So again, so many aspects that why it's important to be able to have this as a national system and ultimately, when we are able to get rid of the disease, eradicate the disease, we've gotta prove to our international partners that were free of the disease.

And it will require a national approach to have proof of freedom.

Thanks, Jo.

Thanks, Sarah.

And thanks, Jo.

Um, it's good to see. I guess we're hearing so much about the potential benefits of eID and great to hear about New South Wales taking the learnings from Victoria and real life opportunities of where the benefits of improved traceability in terms of the accuracy, um could have been used to mitigate some situations that you've had there in the state.

I'm just keen to go back to Ben for a moment. Just we're talking a lot about the positive aspects of rolling out and improved traceability system and eID. And, um, I think it'd be great to hear from you is to maybe exactly what was some of the more challenging aspects of implementation in Victoria that you might want to talk about a little bit further and things again that are good for us to be mindful of in terms of the national implementation.

Yeah, it's a great point Bonnie. We talk about the significant benefits that this provides for us, and as a government person that has to do the tracing that Sarah was just talking about.

You know, it's an amazing system for us to work with, but, you know, there are certainly some issues that we came across, and I know Belinda was certainly one of the abattoirs that that, you know, we struggled to find a solution that would work well on their kill floor.

Initially, there is a unique issue with radio frequency identification devices where electromagnetic noise causes it to not read. And so we have to do some work along with some of the hardware supplies to ensure that we got that right.

And so each area, the supply chain will come across these slight issues that need to be worked through. I think probably the biggest thing that Bonnie is it is a change.

It's a change to industry. Um, it was a change for us as government to capture this data and start utilising it. But the biggest change was for industry, and it will have an impact on industry as well.

And you know, you can go through many examples where the impact was, in fact, a beneficial impact. It provided some efficiencies and productivity gains or changes to practises that lead to better efficiencies.

But you can't shy away from the fact that this will change how some supply chains manage and work, and it will cause impact on certain areas, and they will vary in degree, depending on where you are in the supply chain and what you want to get out of this.

But ultimately, I suppose, uh, the end result for us is for us government and industry, that is us. Is that it's a really robust traceability system that puts us as a world leader again.

Thanks, Ben, I think from the outside looking in as we observe the implementation something from our perspective what was really good to see was, despite all the challenges that you were talking about with different supply chain participants and let's call them out, we're definitely talking about, you know, sale yard sector and the agents as well as the processing sector.

What was really fantastic to see was ultimately, what became industry and government working together to figure out those solutions to address those problems and the learnings that have come out of that not just in terms of the actual tech solutions and the infrastructure and the different ways that things were installed, the problems that we overcome.

But the collaboration that was shown between those two sectors because it certainly was an interesting introduction into eID and that that can't be glossed over too easily.

Um, but a lot of learning is coming out of Victoria, so thanks for running over those, and I think it's just important to note, um, that all of that feeds into the discussions that we're having around national implementation. And what are those lessons, we can make sure that we're learning from.

So thank you very much everyone on the panel that's joined us tonight, Sarah, Rick, Ben and Belinda.

I'm now going to hand over to Matt Koval who's the first assistant secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, just to talk through exactly what the next steps of our implementation planning are and any closing remarks he'd like to make?

We appear to have some difficulties?

Um, Matt, we can’t hear you.

Matt’s audio is perhaps not working as well as it could, we're just going to see if we can get that back online.

I just want to pick up on Sarah's point about a national system. One system means we can quickly contact trace where a sheep or goat has been, what sheep and goats they have mixed with and the livestock’s destination. The key principle that underpins the work of the taskforce is doing is to build on the foundations already in place.

It's important for everyone to understand we're not trying to reinvent the wheel.

We already have one traceability system, the National Livestock Identification System, for the movement of recording using visual tags. Our focus needs to be on updating the technology and being smarter about how we use the system.

So there are lots of big questions that the sheep and goats traceability taskforce is working through these are around cost, timing, technology. As we work through these questions we’ll gain a clearer view on how these changes will more specifically impact upon you. The taskforce is developing detailed implementation plans to support the eID roll out.

We will be providing advice for consideration by all agricultural ministers in December, and we'll been looking to hold another webinar shortly thereafter.

I encourage people to join not only the webinars that we are running, but also through states and territories, and their webinars through those events you’ll get much more detailed information as we go forward, and we continue to look forward to working with our state and territory and industry colleagues as we progress the rollout of sheep eID across the across the country. Thanks, everyone.

Thanks, Matt.

So this brings us nearly to the end of tonight's webinar, which we hope that you found useful. I'd like to thank the panel for their attendance and providing insights into their experiences and perspectives. I'd also like to thank you all for attending.

The recording will be available on the DAFF website in the coming days, and they will also be additional information answering some top questions on people's minds in the coming month.

Again, you can submit your question to the taskforce email, or you can visit the DAFF website.

The QR code is just on the screen there, the taskforce would love to get your feedback on a few questions if possible, and using your mobile phone mobile phone camera hover over the QR code and click on the link on your mobile, you simply select each option that is most applicable to you, and your feedback will help inform the taskforce and all jurisdictions on how we continue to engage into the future.

Thank you all again for your attendance and have a good night.