Landline presenter Pip Courtney and old Tasmanian school contemporary and Corriedale breeder Peter Blackwood at Sheepvention.

ABSENTEE landholders and part-time farmers will be able to learn their biosecurity obligations in a webinar next week.

Landline’s Pip Courtney will facilitate a panel of expert speakers in the webinar on 20 September that is designed to help absentee landholders understand their farm biosecurity obligations.

With the possibility of an emergency animal diseases such as Foot and Mouth or Lumpy Skin Disease arriving on our shores, Local Land Services has been arming farmers and industry with the information they need to help protect the country in the event of an incursion.

The agency is now taking this information online to reach a new audience – urban dwellers who own rural property as well as hobby farmers and landholders who farm part-time.

Part-time farmers can have many competing priorities and may not have time to research their responsibilities when it comes to biosecurity.

But Local Land Services is determined to fill this knowledge gap, and to make the information as accessible as possible.

Local Land Services State Veterinarian, Scott Ison, said while the initial flurry of attention on FMD might have eased, the risk has remained the same.

“We need everyone who manages property in this state to understand that they play a role.

Whether you have one alpaca and a couple of chooks, or 1000 head of cattle, everybody has a responsibility. Not knowing your requirements doesn’t exempt you from the law,” he said.

The expert speakers will include;

• Dr Chris Parker – First Assistant Secretary Biosecurity Animal Division, National Animal Disease Preparedness Coordinator, Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry
• Dr Eliz Braddon – NSW Department of Primary Industries, Manager Animal Biosecurity Preparedness & Response
• Dr Scott Ison – Local Land Services State Veterinarian
• Mick Elliott – Local Land Services Senior Biosecurity Officer

The panel will give an update on the status of FMD and LSD around the world, discuss the obligations landholders have around biosecurity, and talk about what might happen if a disease incursion should occur.

They will discuss the role of pest animal management and provide essential information on what to look for and what to do if people suspect a disease in their animals.

The webinar will start at 8pm on Tuesday 20 September 2022.

To register, visit https://bit.ly/LLS_Biosecurity