Indigenous communities could monitor biosecurity risks 

Australia is currently free from numerous diseases, pests and weeds that are endemic in many countries around the world. However, increased illegal fishing and unauthorised land incursions taking place in northern Australia, and the change in regional distribution of pathogens and vectors due to global climate change, all pose serious biosecurity threats to Australia.

This report examines the threat of further distribution of existing diseases such as dengue fever, Ross River fever, Japanese encephalitis, malaria and Leishmaniasis. It also looks at the potential of illegal fishers introducing highly pathogenic avian influenza to Australia, via the chickens that they carry onboard their vessels.

The location of remote Indigenous communities within northern Australia and Indigenous land and sea management practices place Indigenous peoples in a crucial position that enables them to detect illegal foreign fishers, and identify notifiable diseases and invasive alien species at an early stage.

Therefore, a successful, integrated approach to maintain Australia’s biosecurity requires Indigenous communities to be centrally involved in biosecurity strategies in northern Australia.