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ABC TV eco-warriors dirtgirl, scrapboy and Costa the Garden Gnome, along with some of our Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) officers get together in Country - Handle with Care, a new seven episode video series, as they travel through northern Australia from Cardwell to Torres Strait and across to the Kimberley.
Australia’s north is vast and sparsely populated with a coastline over 10,000km long. The development potential of northern Australia’s agricultural industries is significant.
Northern Australia’s vast, sparsely populated 10,000 kilometre coastline is the frontline for many high-risk animal and plant pests and diseases, particularly Torres Strait, whose northern islands are only a few kilometres from Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Biosecurity risks can reach Australia through the movement of people and goods by sea and air, through traditional trade between PNG and Torres Strait, and by natural pathways such as wind, tide and animal migration. Some serious pests and diseases are being managed in Torres Strait that have not reached the Australian mainland.
The Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy program operates along Australia's northern coastline from Broome in the west to Cairns in the East. This includes the Torres Strait, but excludes the metropolitan areas of Darwin and Cairns.
The following map highlights the areas of primary interest to NAQS surveillance and border management activity.
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, March 2023
This form is to be used by a vessel that is 7 metres or longer, and is on, or intends to make a voyage that arrives at, a place in Australian territory from either the Torres Strait protected zone or the Torres Strait permanent biosecurity monitoring zone.
Sub-committee of Animal Health Laboratory Standards (SCAHLS), 2008
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry maintains this list of procedures, which support the Australian and New Zealand standard diagnostic procedures (ANZSDPs) and Australian standard diagnostic tests (ASDTs), to assist laboratory veterinarians.
Johnson AM and Munday BL, 1987
The Australian standard diagnostic techniques (ASDT) for toxoplasmosis identifies and describes laboratory methods that assist in detecting and diagnosing toxoplasmosis in susceptible domestic animals.
Paynter DI, Halpin CG and Caple IW, 1987
The Australian standard diagnostic techniques (ASDT) for selenium nutrition describes laboratory methods that assist in determining blood selenium level concerning selenium toxicity in susceptible animals.
