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Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy plant health surveys: over 30 years of a globally unique on and offshore solution to island nation biosecurity challenges

Richard Davis , Lynne Jones, Harshitsinh Vala, Brad Pease, David Cann, Pere Kokoa, Francis Tsatsia

Abstract

As the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) approaches its 35th year of operations, we outline the Australian Government’s approach to address extraordinary natural and human mediated biosecurity challenges across our sparsely populated northern shores. NAQS is a concept that is unique worldwide but could be equally well applied in many other island nations dealing with similar circumstances. Key to the NAQS success has been long historical collaborations with biosecurity scientists of the neighbouring nations to the north. Some examples of how these relationships have borne fruit as we tackle regionally important plant diseases are illustrated. We also focus on how the plant pathology component of the program developed and evolved from the early 1990s to 2023.

HR24011  Accepted 13 April 2024

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