Improving DAFF’s effectiveness in engaging the community about general surveillance

Within the context of Australian biosecurity, general surveillance is recognised as “engaging people from all walks of life in the monitoring and reporting of pests, weeds and diseases”. A culture of “shared responsibility” — a concept entrenched in the Biosecurity Act 2015, recognises the important role that the public plays in biosecurity, which currently includes community engagement activities such as citizen science programs and reporting sightings of pests, weeds, and diseases. Effective engagement can educate and cultivate skills in the community to lessen the load on the biosecurity system. However, designing, planning, and implementing effective programs is challenging as it is currently unclear how best to target resources to have most impact and reduce spending in areas where other types of surveillance may be more appropriate.

This project aims to enhance understanding of community groups and their motivations and barriers to being involved in the biosecurity system and develop an economic analysis tool for estimating costs and benefits of programs to inform general surveillance decisions. This tool will better enable biosecurity agencies to commission, undertake and support cost-effective biosecurity community engagement.

CEBRA Project Leader: Susie Hester