New national plans to strengthen animal health

Two national plans to strengthen Australia’s production and aquatic animal health management systems have been released – Animalplan 2022 to 2027 and AQUAPLAN 2022 to 2027.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Murray Watt said the plans were developed to provide a strategic approach to improving Australia’s animal health system over the next 5 years.

“The plans will strengthen the systems that support our animal and aquatic industries,” Minister Watt said.

“This will be achieved through emergency animal diseases preparedness, on-farm biosecurity systems, strong diagnosis and surveillance capabilities, minimal on-farm antimicrobial usage, sustainable industry practices and effective traceability systems.

“Animalplan 2022 to 2027 is the first national action plan for production animal health.

“The plan identifies and prioritises projects to ensure our systems are fit for purpose and enable the industries to continue to grow and reach the National Farmer’s Federation goal of $100 billion by 2030.”

The new plans follow the introduction of legislative amendments in Parliament earlier this month to the Animal Health Australia and Plant Health Australia Funding Legislation.

These amendments will streamline administrative processes by removing redundant provisions, create efficiencies and facilitate future levy arrangements, and increase consistency between the Acts regarding the spending of emergency response levies.

Minister Watt said AQUAPLAN 2022 to 2027 is the fourth national strategic plan for aquatic animal health.

“AQUAPLAN has a 20-year history of bringing aquatic animal industries and governments together to manage and protect aquatic animal health,” he said.

“Both plans have been endorsed by industry sectors and state and territory governments, and many activities in each plan have already commenced – demonstrating shared commitment to actioning the objectives of the plans.

“On behalf of the Australian Government, it gives me great pleasure to release Animalplan 2022 to 2027 and AQUAPLAN 2022 to 2027.”

Find out more about:

Animalplan at https://www.agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land/animal/health/animal-plan  

AQUAPLAN at https://www.agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land/animal/aquatic/aquaplan  
 
Fast Facts: 

• Animalplan and AQUAPLAN will be implemented by state, territory and commonwealth governments, and relevant industry sectors. Progress will be reported on the DAFF website.
• In 2021-22, the gross value of production of Australia’s livestock and livestock products (including meat, live animals, wool and dairy) was estimated by ABARES to be $35.2 billion. The value of the commercial fisheries and aquaculture sectors was forecast to be $3.55 billion in the same year.
• In 2021-22, exports of livestock and livestock products were valued at $27.1 billion. Exports of commercial fisheries and aquaculture products were estimated to be valued at $1.39 billion.