Emergency hotline a valuable frontline service

Every year thousands of New Zealanders help to protect our heritage, our environment and our economy by calling MAF's exotic disease and pest emergency hotline (0800 80 99 66).

Operators at the call centre are available to take calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On average, they receive 1,100 to 2,500 calls a month from members of the public and informed stakeholders.

"Summer tends to be busier for our call centre," says Investigation and Diagnostic Centre (IDC) Administration Team Manager Nicci Rowswell. "People tend to be out in the garden so they're more likely to find unusual things.

"If the call is biosecurity related, the operator takes the caller's details and pages an appropriate on-call MAF IDC Incursion Investigator, from either the animal and marine or the plant health and environment team.

Nicci says the call centre also plays an important role in a response. "The system allows them the flexibility to change screens to accommodate such things as specific report cases, movement requests and FAQs about a specific event. Because they can take information and pass it on, our specialist staff are better placed to control and prioritise callbacks."

Incursion investigators

Each month an average of 60 of the calls made on the hotline are referred to an Incursion Investigator.

The first step an on-call investigator takes when they get a call is to contact the informant and anyone else involved to find out as much as they can about what has been discovered.

"When the duty investigator phones the informant they try to ascertain the context and the history of what they're being presented with," says Mat Stone, IDC's Incursion Investigation Manager.

At the start of the investigation, the duty investigator creates an investigation plan. This will cover objectives of the investigation, any site visits and proposed immediate actions.

"The plan is signed off by the investigator's team manager who also ensures MAF's Post-clearance Directorate is kept informed," says Mat.

Investigation plans typically have two objectives: make an identification, and complete a rapid threat assessment. Identification is usually made by obtaining a sample from the informant. In some cases, the investigator will visit the site to collect diagnostic samples. The rapid threat assessment looks at the potential of the organisms to cause harm to New Zealand's biosecurity.

"It's a quick process and an important part of a triage to determine whether Biosecurity New Zealand mounts a response to the organism," says Mat.

If the organism is identified as being new to New Zealand and likely to threaten biosecurity, immediate action may be necessary to contain it. The decision to mount a response rests with MAF's Post-clearance Director, and the processes for determining the most appropriate response for uncontained incursions involve consultation with affected stakeholders.

"In many cases that the IDC Incursion Investigation team deal with, however, the measures necessary to immediately protect New Zealand biosecurity are obvious," says Mat. "Common actions in such cases are treating what has been found (such as destroying an ant nest) or applying a movement control notice. Taking immediate action provides important breathing space for the considered process of assessing and managing risks to biosecurity values.

"Every member of the Incursion Investigation team is an inspector under the Biosecurity Act, giving them specific legal powers.

"Our team members have legal powers such as entry to property, the right to inspect and take samples, to enforce movement control, and to take other action," says Mat. "These powers are essential for managing biosecurity incursions, but they also have the potential to infringe on the rights of New Zealanders so our investigators take their legal obligations very seriously."

  • Nicci Rowswell, IDC Administration Team Manager, Biosecurity New Zealand, phone 04 526 5613 , nicci.rowswell@maf.govt.nz
  • Matthew Stone, Incursion Investigation Manager, Investigation and Diagnostic Centre, Wallaceville, Biosecurity New Zealand, phone 04 526 5600, matthew.stone@maf.govt.nz
  • Veronica Herrera, Plant Health & Environment Laboratory Manager, Investigation and Diagnostic Centre, Tamaki, Biosecurity New Zealand, phone 09 574 4190, veronica.herrera@maf.govt.nz

Back to Biosecurity Magazine - Issue 71

Page last updated: 30 April 2008