Biosecurity is integral to protecting Australia’s unique ecosystems and ensuring the sustainability and competitiveness of all its agricultural exports. The recent avian influenza outbreak has highlighted the importance of skills to care for individual flocks in protecting the biosecurity of the larger poultry industry.

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In its 2022-2027 Chicken Meat Program Research Development and Extension Plan, AgriFutures identifies ‘enhancing biosecurity, health and welfare’ as one of the key priorities of the poultry industry.  

In response to this and other calls from industry for improved skills in prevention of biosecurity incursions, Skills Insight and MINTRAC are undertaking this project to deliver free workshops for chicken meat and egg producers around the country and online. Workshops will focus on the role of on-farm flock safety measures in safeguarding the biosecurity of the broader industry.

Participants will come together to create or review their on-farm Biosecurity Management Plans. This gives industry in each region the opportunity to collaborate and share best practice, uplifting the biosecurity of the entire industry. Content for the workshops will draw on already existing resources. 

Insights gained from this project will be used to inform further work by Skills Insight in supporting biosecurity skills across the industries we serve.  

We recognise the threat that a biosecurity and emergency animal disease incursion would have on the poultry industry and fully support all initiatives to uplift preparedness, awareness, and responsiveness to biosecurity risks within the sector. We believe this project represents a valuable opportunity to deliver education, knowledge, and skills training to influence industry practice change in biosecurity management and planning.  

– Dr Mary Wu, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Chicken Meat Federation (ACMF) 

Next steps 

Project activities have been impacted by the recent Avian Influenza incursions across Victoria, with industry prioritising a nationwide biosecurity response. Therefore, some of the planned activities have been adapted.

  • Instead of the planned national roll out of workshops, pilot training workshops are planned to commence in March with less-impacted industry stakeholders. These sessions will be used to gather feedback and refine the program before full-scale national delivery when the broader industry is available.
  • An industry advisory group (IAG) made up of industry leaders and experts has been convened to guide the project. Terms of Reference for the committee have been developed, along with a consultation strategy to encourage thorough and appropriate stakeholder participation in the project. 
  • The project team have undertaken initial research and consultation to identify specific workforce training needs and capability gaps. A lesson plan, facilitator’s resource and learner’s workbook have been developed to facilitate the workshops, incorporating input from the IAG.
  • Check-ins at three, six and nine months following the workshops are planned to monitor and evaluate the program’s success.
  • At the end of the project, outcomes from the workshops and check-ins will be reported to the Department of Employment and Workforce Relations. 

Project Goals

The project aims to:

  • identify and address any biosecurity and contamination skills and knowledge gaps
  • help businesses prepare and respond to risks across their value chains
  • systematically upskill and reskill the poultry workforce.

Timeline

Project Team

Mick Crouch

Project Lead
MINTRAC
[email protected] 

Tugrul Durali

Project Technical Consultant
Avian Management 

This Skills Insight JSC project is being managed with the support of MINTRAC as part of their collaborative partnership with Skills Insight. MINTRAC has a strong history working with the Australian meat processing industry on skills and training solutions and have been engaged by Skills Insight to deliver this project in partnership.

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At the broad consultation stage, we present and discuss potential solutions, collecting feedback from a wide range of stakeholder across the country. It follows consultation with various stakeholders that has already taken place throughout the project.

This stage has not yet commenced.



As part of consensus gathering, we check our work with stakeholders to confirm that solutions are in line with expectations.

This stage has not yet commenced.



At the finalisation stage, final checks are conducted and the outcomes of the project are submitted to the Department for consideration. Following this, outcomes are published or enacted.

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