Plant Protection News - November 2010

In this issue:

Post-graduate degrees in plant biosecurity: enrolments open

Postgraduate degrees in plant biosecurity are now open for 2011 enrolment at Murdoch University and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The degrees available are Post-graduate Certificate, Post-graduate Diploma and Masters in Plant Biosecurity.

The degrees have been developed specifically for staff working in the plant biosecurity sector, as well as for people who wish to pursue a career in the sector. The individual units are remotely delivered so students can study from home or the office.

The curriculum has been designed and developed following extensive consultation to meet the needs of the profession, be it for ongoing professional development, formal accreditation or general enhancement of professional expertise and recognition.

Entry into the Certificate requires either an existing university degree in biological sciences or can be achieved based on relevant professional experience. Direct entry into the Diploma and Masters requires an existing university degree.

Course fees are standard university fees and these may vary between institutions. Note that the material delivered to students is exactly the same irrespective of which university they enrol through. Enrolments can be on a single unit basis, part time or fulltime. Units can be undertaken as part of other degree courses, depending on the enrolment requirements of particular universities. The courses have full Australian University accreditation.

First semester 2011 enrolments at Murdoch University will close on 31 December 2010; and for the QUT, enrolments will close at the end of January 2011. 

The post-graduate curriculum in plant biosecurity has been developed by five universities (QUT, University of Adelaide, Charles Darwin University, Murdoch University and La Trobe University). The Australian Government has funded the development of the curriculum with input from the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity. The Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer has managed various aspects of the plant biosecurity program since its inception.

Post-graduate study in plant biosecurity

Details of the delivery, enrolment and content of the courses

Fruit Fly and the Home Garden website launched

A website to help home gardeners in Australia make informed decisions about the control and prevention of fruit flies has recently been launched.

The website, Fruit Fly and the Home Garden, intends to help home gardeners select effective fruit fly control approaches that suit their preferred gardening style, lifestyle and fruit fly situation.

The site provides gardeners with guidance on when to implement particular fruit fly control measures so that their action can be planned, and be timely in preventing or minimising fruit fly attack. Readers can also follow links to more specific information resources on fruit fly control where available.

The website caters for home gardeners who have either just discovered fruit fly in their crop or who want to prevent fruit fly from becoming a problem in their garden. It also caters for gardeners who may be interested in less labour intensive approaches to managing fruit flies.

Home gardeners that implement effective fruit fly control approaches will feel assured that they are doing their part to lessen pressure from the pest on neighbouring gardens and horticultural production industries.

Fruit flies are a significant threat to home gardens and horticulture production in Australia. If not managed properly, the pests can damage a wide range of fruits and vegetables. The pests also have the potential to impact on Australia's capacity to trade competitively in international horticultural markets.

The website was launched by the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer (OCPPO) and Plant Health Australia (PHA) in October 2010. The site, hosted by PHA, is an initiative of the OCPPO funded by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as part of the partnership of governments and industries implementing the draft National Fruit Fly Strategy.

Remote diagnostic workshop: call for registrations

A workshop on remote diagnostics is to be held in April 2011 in Darwin, Northern Territory. The workshop, ‘Web-based ID Tools, Screening Aids and Communication for Diagnosticians’, is to be presented by staff from the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity and Museum Victoria.

The workshop will provide presentations and demonstrations on the Pest and Disease Image Library (PaDIL) suite of products that includes:

  • diagnostic biosecurity and biodiversity image and information websites
  • remote diagnostic microscope networking
  • plant pest diagnostic protocols and contingency action plans, and
  • social communication tools for diagnosticians.

The workshop will run in association with the 4th Asian Conference for Plant Pathology and the 18th Biennial Australasian Plant Pathology Society conference which is to be held from 26–29 April 2011 in Darwin, Northern Territory.

The cost of the workshop is $30 per person. For further details about and registration for the workshop, please contact Ken Walker (Museum Victoria) on 03 8341 7432.

The workshop is sponsored by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Subcommittee on Plant Health Diagnostic Standards (SPHDS). SPHDS is responsible for sustaining and improving the quality and reliability of diagnostics for plants pests throughout Australia.

Workshops: building reference collections in Indonesia

Two workshops to help develop skills of plant health professionals involved with the building of plant pest reference collections in Indonesia were recently held.

The two technical workshops, ‘Plant Disease Specimen Collection, Preservation, Curation and Data Management’ and ‘Insect Pest Specimen Collection, Preservation, Curation and Data Management’, were held from 23-29 October 2010 at the Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in Bogor, Indonesia. A total of 35 trainees from Indonesia participated in the two workshops. The workshops focused on:

  • building practical skills among scientific and technical officers who are involved with building reference collections in Indonesia
  • enhancing the commitment of Indonesian plant health professionals to improve training capacity in the area of reference collections, and
  • building networks and confidence among key technical staff.

The workshops complement previous activities managed by the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer (OCPPO) which provided Indonesia with equipment for basic specimen collection and preservation.

Building durable reference collections are important for countries such as Indonesia as they provide a scientific basis for establishing plant health status, which can be used to support access requests for agricultural commodities to international markets.

For Australia, workshops such as these are held to satisfy the country’s World Trade Organization obligations to assist developing nations improve their international trade. These types of activities also help to facilitate safe trade of plants and plant products between trading partners such as Indonesia and Australia.

The OCPPO used funds through AusAID’s Public Sector Linkages Program to commission LIPI to deliver both of the workshops.

Update on response to Myrtle rust

The Myrtle Rust National Management Group (NMG) has released a communiqué providing an update of Australia’s response to the incursion of Myrtle rust (Uredo rangelii) as at 25 October 2010. The communiqué provides information about:

  • property inspection for the disease
  • confirmed detections of the disease to date
  • hosts found with the disease and host testing, and
  • activities to date in relation to the interim response plan.

Myrtle rust was first detected in Australia in April 2010 at a cut flower growing facility in the central coast of New South Wales.

The Myrtle Rust NMG is comprised of the chief executive officers of the national and state/territory departments of agriculture and primary industries across Australia, representatives of peak industry bodies and Plant Health Australia.

Update on response to Myrtle rust – 25 October 2010
Myrtle Rust National Management Group communiqué

Departmental media releases
Contains links to recent and past communiqués concerning Myrtle rust

Recent official pest reports to the IPPC

Australia’s recent official pest reports to the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) are listed below. The Australian IPPC Secretariat prepares and adds the reports to the International Phytosanitary Portal as part of Australia’s party obligations to the IPPC.

  • Confirmation of chestnut blight in north-east Victoria

  • Eradication of Potato Cyst Nematode (PCN) from Western Australia

  • Detection of Panicum mosaic virus in New South Wales

The above mentioned reports, as well as past reports, can be accessed at Official Pest Reports. Note that reports listed on the ‘Official Pest Report’ page can be viewed by scrolling down the page once the link of interest has been selected.

Biosecurity Bulletin August-September 2010 issue released

The first issue of the Biosecurity Bulletin (formerly known as the AQIS Bulletin) has been released. The Bulletin seeks to provide its readers with a greater understanding of the work managed by the Biosecurity Services Group across the biosecurity continuum: pre-border, at the border and post-border.

Biosecurity Bulletin - August-September 2010

Last reviewed:
04 Nov 2010
Contact:
Email OCPPO
About DAFF Biosecurity and Contact details
Media Inquiries