Why our future depends on taking biosecurity seriously
OPINION: When it comes to biosecurity, we often hear about the end of a response, but it’s the beginning that helps determine our success.
Primary Industries Minister David Carter is welcoming a boost to New Zealand's biosecurity frontline with the graduation on Friday of 46 new recruits.
With training completed of the largest intake of border staff in over a decade, the Ministry for Primary Industries issued warrants to 43 new quarantine inspectors and three new detector dog handlers at a ceremony in Auckland.
"As the Government had planned, these new border staff will bring MPI's biosecurity frontline up to full strength and will help meet the demands of the summer peak season," says Carter.
"The quarantine inspectors and dog handlers are now ready to protect our primary industries and the Kiwi way of life by keeping unwanted pests and diseases out of the country."
The majority of the quarantine inspectors will be based in Auckland, and five will go to Wellington. The three new dog handlers will go to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Four existing warranted quarantine inspectors who have trained as dog handlers are also graduated. They will work with the 11 detector dogs that went through MPI's training centre earlier this year.
"Detector dogs and their handlers are an important part of our biosecurity frontline. The dogs' presence at the airport is a major factor, they are excellent at detecting seeds and plants that x-rays may miss, and they screen people faster than x-rays," Carter says.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
Environment Southland's catchment improvement funding is once again available for innovative landowners in need of a boost to get their project going.
The team meeting at the Culverden Hotel was relaxed and open, despite being in the middle of calving when stress levels are at peak levels, especially in bitterly cold and wet conditions like today.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
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Driven by a lifelong passion for animals, Amy Toughey's journey from juggling three jobs with full-time study to working on cutting-edge dairy research trials shows what happens when hard work meets opportunity - and she's only just getting started.