BioSIRT BLog August 2010

Welcome - Gilian Lee

Hi everyone - I have been appointed as the BioSIRT National Program Manager - Technical. This position is being funded by DAFF to provide additional focus and support for BioSIRT.  I will be working very closely with Rochelle in her role as  BioSIRT National Program Manager – Policy.

I am experienced in both the public and private sector. I have managed several national level collections and systems and worked in the policy arena. I have developed skills at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Dept. of Health and Ageing, ACT Health, Therapeutic Goods Administration, private consulting agencies and as a private consultant.

I am passionate about bringing in true effective change and focusing on appropriate best practice. I see myself as an old-school manager that has a strong focus on business outcomes and using the most efficient processes to attain that outcome.

I am an economist by education and have continued my core skill development by completing an MBA in IT, marketing and public sector management. I am an industry certified in project management and ITIL service management.

I revel in anything related to financial modeling, mathematics/statistics but particularly enjoy building systems based on strong fundamentals.

I  look forward to working with you.

National Fruit Fly Rollout

Fruit Fly Surveillance Working Group

At the last National BioSIRT Standards Committee (NBSC) meeting it was agreed to form an NBSC working group to progress the national template for routine fruit fly surveillance. A working group has been formed with the following members: 

NCT: Rochelle Boyce-Bacon, Peter Frecklington, Stephen Pratt
DAFF (NAQS): David Cowland-Cooper
NT: San Kham Hornby
TAS: Guy Westmore.

The working group will finalise the development of the surveillance template using the same process as NBSC working groups for development and release of national emergency response templates.

AOI Upload

Over the coming weeks, jurisdictions will be provided with a step-by-step protocol to upload their AOI data. The script was initially developed using the DataPump application written by Tim Beattie from Biosecurity Queensland.

We would also like to thank jurisdictions for their hospitality over the past few months. It has been a pleasure meeting and working with you all. Rochelle B-B. & Kymme.

Request for Tender (RFT) Update

The Request for Tender (RFT) for BioSIRT Hosting, Support and Development Services closed on 2 July 2010, and tender evaluation is near complete. Awarding of a contract award and commencement of services are expected by the end of August 2010.

Welcome - Lola and Mia

The BioSIRT Team has expanded to include two new girls! Lisa had a baby girl Lola and Kaz had a baby girl Mia. By all accounts mothers and babies are doing well.

Training and Communication

The NCT have put together a brochure including basic information about the BioSIRT program including some history and key outputs and outcomes.

The brochure will be a handy resource to distribute to interested parties. We expect the brochure to be available by the end of the month.

If you would like copies of the brochure please contact Kymme.

Welcome - Matthew Tant 

I have been appointed to the Biosecurity Information Network (BIN) as Project Officer until May 2011, while Karen and Lisa are on leave.

I have a Diploma in Community Services focusing on Child Protection and Managing Violent Behaviours, and am currently half way through completing a Bachelor of Social Sciences.

I have until recently been employed in Animal Welfare within DAFF for the past four years. While with Animal Welfare my main focus and responsibilities were with the financial management of the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS) and the Animal Welfare Unit in its entirety.

Prior to joining DAFF I was employed with the ACT Government with the Office for Children, Youth and Family Support in a variety of administrative capacities under Child Protection.

I have settled in well to the BioSIRT NCT and am presently anxiously awaiting the arrival of Number 2. We have a four year old at home to keep us busy while we wait. 

NCT New Server  

The arrival of a small black box signaled a significant step forward for the National Co-ordination Team. More powerful but less than half the physical size of the old training server, the new training will be easier to transport and will demonstrate to trainees how smoothly BioSIRT can run with multiple users, even on inexpensive hardware.

The old training server will be re-purposed as standalone test/development server for NCT, which will remove two sources of contention: frequent absences and instability caused by importing and exporting test databases.

The Training Calendar was released for comment at the last National BioSIRT Standards Committee meeting. If your jurisdiction is interested in hosting a training course or requires some more information about training provided or supported by the NCT please contact Kymme on 02 6272 5837 or email BioSIRT. 

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