Biosecurity Surveillance Strategy
MAF Biosecurity New Zealand is leading the implementation of the Biosecurity Surveillance Strategy 2020 which will change the way surveillance is led, planned, delivered and communicated.
Surveillance Needs, Prioritisation and Decision Making
Following on from the launch of the Biosecurity Surveillance Strategy, in February 2010, the project team has completed a series of stakeholder workshops in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland to determine what biosecurity surveillance needs are not currently being met.
Around 50 people attended representing a wide range of interests and some really useful ideas came out of the sessions. MAFBNZ will be analysing and reporting back on this work later this year.
The sessions included a presentation on the Readiness Prioritisation System being developed by MAFBNZ. This system consists of three components: people, a process and a tool. It has been designed to improve how MAFBNZ allocates limited resources to achieve a balanced workplan by targeting the most important work first but allowing opportunities for other discretionary work to be included. Workshop attendees were asked to comment on the criteria used to underpin the tool component and this feedback will be used to adapt the system. Longer term it is intended that this system will be useful not only for MAFBNZ but to support any one working in the biosecurity system to make decisions.
The Surveillance Needs, Prioritisation and Decision Making work is part of Actions 1 and 5 of the Biosecurity Surveillance Strategy. The Prioritisation System is also being adopted for use by the Readiness Programme which is responsible for delivering biosecurity preparedness for MAFBNZ Post Border.
Governance
Two advisory groups have been established as part of a coalition responsible for guiding the Biosecurity Surveillance Strategy implementation to ensure the vision is achieved and change is implemented. ‘The internal group’ represents MAFBNZ business groups and members responsible for aligning project outcomes with strategic goals, and managing resources to successfully realise the benefits into the surveillance and biosecurity systems. The external advisory group known as ‘The Biosecurity Surveillance Committee’ provides broad representation across the sectors involved or impacted by biosecurity and focuses on the implementation of the strategy within the biosecurity system. Both advisory groups will support the project management team who are responsible for delivering the work.
Biosecurity Surveillance Committee members
| Name | Representative of: |
| Anthony Olsen | Maori interests |
| Doug Lush | Government – Health |
| Eric Hillerton | Industry – Animals |
| Erik Van Eyndhoven | Government – Environment/Conservation |
| Glen Mackie | Industry – Plants (Forests/Horticulture) |
| Graeme Inglis | Science and Marine |
| John Simmons | Regional Councils |
| Katherine Clift | Government – Project Sponsor |
| Peter Thomson | Government – Project Owner |
| Richard Witehira | Maori interests |
| Sara Khaling-Rai | Government – Project Manager |
Work progress to date
| Biosecurity Surveillance Strategy Implementation Actions | ||
| Action | Description | Status |
| 1 | New Zealand’s needs for biosecurity surveillance will be identified. | Underway |
| 2 | Performance monitoring and reporting will be enhanced across the biosecurity surveillance system. | Next to start |
| 3 | New Zealand will increase the benefit obtained from involvement in the global biosecurity community. | Next to start |
| 4 | Participation in the biosecurity surveillance system will be improved. | Underway |
| 5 | Transparent criteria will be determined and applied in biosecurity decision making amongst surveillance participants and partners. | Underway |
| 6 | Opportunities for improving the management of biosecurity surveillance information will be investigated and implemented where appropriate. | Starting late 2011 |
| 7 | Appropriate governance arrangements to drive, guide and monitor the implementation of the Biosecurity Surveillance Strategy will be established. | Completed |
| Key Documents – available from our website | Download |
| Biosecurity Surveillance Strategy 2020 | Download  (6054 KB) |
| Limited release of the review of the Current State of biosecurity surveillance for comment and validation by key external experts | Completed - Download  |
When documents are available for public viewing or comment, you may find them here .
Any other questions?
Please contact us at NZBiosecuritySurveillance@maf.govt.nz
Page last updated: 27 July 2010