Andrew Coleman headed the exercise ‘Taurus 2012’ on March 19-22 to test MAF’s ability to deal with FMD. He told Rural News some aspects of their response need testing every year and an exercise on the scale of ‘Taurus 2012’ every couple of years would be useful.
The scenario for Taurus 2012 involved an FMD incursion from a fictitious country called Greyland. Infection showed up on five properties in Taranaki, effecting 400 sheep, 1000 cattle and two deer. Links with other sites in Taranaki and from Auckland to Hawkes Bay had to be traced and checked due to stock movement.
Coleman says the main aim was to test the whole government biosecurity response guide and by and large the exercise went well. But they learned a lot from the exercise especially about communications and dealing with news media, he says.
“The demands of the media were insatiable. The media never let up and while we were working from 7am until about 8pm, in a real situation the expectation of the media would be 24/7.”
MAF’s communications team performed well, helped by communications staff from other government agencies experienced in dealing with crisis.
“Social media were tested throughout the exercise. We had hundreds of social media injects… and that added another media dimension to what we were trying to manage. Normally our focus would be on print, radio and television, but keeping a track of what the social stuff brings lets you know what the heartbeat of communities is like.”
Industry groups such as DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Meat Industry Association and the Deer Industry New Zealand were also involved. Coleman says their role is critical in any outbreak of FMD.
“The reality is that a lot of the control you need to put in place to manage FMD – such as setting voluntary compliance, needs support from farmers and industry and getting the particular requirements to farmers – was quite challenging.”
• Egypt FMD outbreak, p41
