Exercise to rehearse biosecurity plan

Exercise Apollo is a response to an emergency animal disease scenario, with about 150 government and industry representatives working from Bunbury and Perth control centres from May 17-19.

The department will be simulating a foot and mouth outbreak and will focus on the disposal options of livestock and tracing and testing of the simulated outbreak.

DAFWA biosecurity and regulation executive director Kevin Chennell said the exercise would help DAFWA respond to a real life emergency animal disease outbreak.

"We are testing the immediate capacity for the department to respond and lead a response," he said.

"It will test how we will deal with issues in an organised fashion, which is what we are wanting to sort out.

"If you don't train or prepare, you won't be ready on the day if we do get it - so we are pleased this exercise is happening."

More than 100 DAFWA staff have undergone accredited emergency management training towards either a certificate III in public safety (biosecurity response operation) or a diploma in public safety (biosecurity response management) and Apollo will give them the opportunity to put their new skill set into practice.

Dr Chennell said 100 DAFWA staff would be mobilised during the exercise.

"In a real life disease emergency we could be mobilising hundreds more, have a control centre with 200-300 and about 400 people in the field,'' he said.

"People would have to move out of their day-to-day jobs to solely focus on the situation.

"But this is still a substantial exercise and is the largest exercise we have run since exercise Odysseus - the national livestock standstill exercise in 2014."

Representatives from the department, industry, and federal, State and local government departments will also be involved.

Australia's chief veterinary officer Mia Carbon will take a national role during the three-day exercise.

"The chief veterinary officer is a legislative delegate under the Exotic Animals Act, which would be the act we would enact in the case of a significant emergency animal disease outbreak such as foot and mouth, so the act will be testing during the exercise," she said.

"The other role in an emergency animal disease outbreak is to sign off on a response plan and liaise nationally with the Australian veterinary officer on trade issues."

Apollo exercise manager Shane Bryant said planners are ready to implement the exercise next week.

"My role is the co-ordination of all exercise management," he said.

"I co-ordinate the concept development, outlining what we are testing, the planning, implementation and execution phase.

"After we execute it, we have the biggest task of evaluation, where we document any key findings or recommendations."

Exercise preparations also identified representatives from the live export, meat and sheep industries, transporters and lobby groups to participate.

More than 20 industry representatives participated in Animal Health Australia training for the event.

"We have had a lot of engagement with them and they will have significant involvement," Mr Bryant said.

"They will also have industry representatives within exercise control, which has never happened before in any other exercise."

Dr Chennell said WA had a world-class biosecurity system, which was continually being challenged.

He said protecting the State's biosecurity reputation was crucial.

"We have recognised it means preparation and response, as biosecurity is vital," he said.

"We need to regularly assess our State and national effectiveness and our ability to respond to these challenges."

The exercise is being funded by the Royalties for Regions program, through DAFWA's $20 million Boosting Biosecurity Defences (BBD) project.

For more information on the emergency response, visit the department's emergency response page.

For more information contact Shane Bryant, exercise manager, South Perth on 08 9368 4062.