The AJP Victoria Submission to the "Victorian Biosecurity Strategy Consultation" is now available here is now available here. 

A new Biosecurity Strategy is being developed for Victoria. The strategy is building off Victoria’s Biosecurity Statement endorsed by the Victorian Government in 2022. The purpose in developing the Biosecurity Strategy is to turn the vision from the Biosecurity Statement into clear priorities.

To ensure this strategy is relevant to all Victorians, consultation is being run to gain insights from key groups and the public about how we can strengthen the biosecurity system in Victoria.

Our Submission Conclusion 

According to the strategy document, “prevention, it is about making the mitigation of biosecurity risk everybody’s business. This means mobilising coordinated and sustained action and behavioural change across the system based on a much better understanding of the key biosecurity risks and responsibilities”.

Our main concern is biosecurity related to animals. Animal diseases routinely emerge from factory farming operations and put them at significant financial risk. Overcrowding and unmanaged waste as well as animal illness, infection, and stress all rank among the standard factory farming conditions that diminish animals’ ability to fend off disease and enhance the inevitability of outbreaks and spread. As of mid-2020, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has identified 117 infections and transmissible illnesses affecting factory-farmed animals around the globe.

The most obvious solution to reducing biosecurity risk is encouraging a transition from animal to plant based agriculture.

You can download and read our full submission below.