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The 3rd Australian Biosecurity Symposium is driving transformation

Held at the iconic SeaWorld Resort on the Gold Coast from August 27-29, this year’s Australian Biosecurity Symposium was nothing short of groundbreaking!
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Held at the iconic SeaWorld Resort on the Gold Coast from August 27-29, this year’s Australian Biosecurity Symposium was nothing short of groundbreaking! With the theme of ‘Innovation. Inclusivity. Immersion,’ over 430 of Australia’s brightest minds and trailblazers came together to hear 128 speakers tackle one of the most critical issues we face: strengthening Australia’s biosecurity.

A standout presentation was from Tinkerbell founder, Adam Ferrier. In his keynote address he challenged those working in biosecurity to better define the biosecurity brand so that it’s more recognisable. With biosecurity being a relatively new concept, this will be essential if we are to build an Australian biosecurity mass movement.

This symposium included the inaugural Biosecurity Youth Summit with 40 high school students from around Queensland learning about the importance of a strong biosecurity system. These future leaders shared their visions with the full plenary.

The two-day event was cohosted by the Biosecurity Collective – an initiative of Animal Health Australia , Invasive Species Council, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions and Plant Health Australia.

The Symposium coincided with the inaugural National Biosecurity Week, which promotes the critical role biosecurity plays in protecting our environment, agricultural industries, food supply, communities and economy.

Key initiatives to be progressed by the Biosecurity Collective following the Symposium include:

  • Advancing the Parliamentary Friends of Biosecurity
  • Expanding National Biosecurity Week
  • Enhancing youth engagement
  • Doubling investment in biosecurity for sustained transformation
  • Defining a powerful national biosecurity brand.

The Symposium was an idea originally conceived by the Invasive Species and brought to reality through a partnership with Animal Health Australia who were responsible for event management for the first two events. The critical drive and leadership from former Animal Health Australia CEO Kathleen Plowman was recognised at the 2024 symposium with Kathleen’s designation as a ‘founding partner’.

The Biosecurity Collective will reconvene in 2025 to conduct a mid-decade review of our biosecurity system, to determine if it is ready for the challenges of 2030 and beyond. The next symposium will be held in 2026.

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    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]