AFFA03/4960
16 July 2003
ANIMAL BIOSECURITY POLICY MEMORANDUM 2003/17
IMPORT OF WALLABIES FROM NEW ZEALAND
AMENDed INTERIM CONDITIONS
This Animal Biosecurity Policy Memorandum (ABPM) provides stakeholders with amended interim quarantine requirements for the importation of wallabies from New Zealand. The conditions take effect on 16 July 2003.
ABPM 2003/02, circulated in February 2003, sought stakeholder comment on proposed amendments to the ‘interim quarantine requirements for the importation of marsupials and monotremes’ to facilitate the importation of tammar wallabies from Kawau Island in New Zealand. The tammar wallabies on Kawau are descendants of a population in South Australia now extinct. It is intended to restore a breeding population in their former range. Draft amended ‘interim quarantine requirements for the importation of wallabies from New Zealand’ were attached to the memorandum. The comment period closed on 7 March 2003 and no technical comments were received.
Since February, considerable interest has been shown in the import of brush-tailed rock wallabies (BTRWs) from Kawau to assist in recovery programs in Australia for this endangered species, and import plans are well advanced. Because of the nature of BTRWs, holding them in confined pre-export quarantine for seven days prior to the shipment and recapture for shipment is potentially inimical to their welfare and even their survival.
As the animals will all be kept in less confined quarantine for a prolonged period (six months) after arrival in Australia, and because there is ample evidence that the Kawau wallabies have no diseases of significant quarantine concern, holding them in pre-export quarantine is considered unnecessary. Accordingly, clause 2.4 of the requirements has been amended.
Clause 2.7 relating to container requirements has been modified to allow some flexibility. Containers not exactly meeting the requirements specified in IATA Live Animal Regulations may be more suitable for shipping one or both of the species. Wallabies have been exported from Kawau to many countries in considerable numbers in the last two decades and experienced exporters are considered well placed to decide on appropriate container design.
Next Steps
The Interim Quarantine Requirements for the Importation of Wallabies from New Zealand are attached and will come into effective on 16 July 2003. These interim requirements will apply until a more comprehensive risk assessment is completed.
Confidentiality
Respondents are advised that, subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Privacy Act 1988, all submissions received in response to ABPMs will be publicly available. Comments may be listed or referred to in any papers or reports prepared on the subject matter of the Memoranda.
The Commonwealth reserves the right to reveal the identity of a respondent unless a request for anonymity accompanies the submission. Where a request for anonymity does not accompany the submission the respondent will be taken to have consented to the disclosure of his or her identity for the purposes of Information Privacy Principle 11 of the Privacy Act.
The contents of the submission will not be treated as confidential unless they are marked ‘confidential’ and they are capable of being classified as such in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.
DAVID BANKS
General Manager
Animal Biosecurity
Contact officer: Warren Vant
Telephone no: (02) 6272 4436
Facsimile no: (02) 6272 3399