The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) have awarded their 2025 Australian Biosecurity Awards – Environmental Biosecurity to Dr Geoff Pegg and Aj Perkins. Geoff is Senior Principal Forest Pathologist Queensland Department of Primary Industries, and Aj is Senior Project Officer, Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (NSW). Together they have collaborated and partnered with a wide variety of stakeholders on an innovative 2-year program which builds capacity to protect culturally significant species from the threat from introduced pests and diseases, including Myrtle Rust. The program included developing and delivering training modules for Indigenous Rangers and land managers to improve their ability to spot and report biosecurity threats. They also built a groundbreaking trans-Tasman partnership in Indigenous forest health and environmental biosecurity with Māori custodians and scientists from New Zealand (Aotearoa).
The success of the program has meant that it has been extended through to 2029.
The program also produced the fantastic Roots for Resilience video which tells the story of the importance of environmental biosecurity for culture, and highlights the need for collective action. It can be found here: https://youtu.be/d2M18ApA-uA?si=sMme1yzTERJrfXrG
Read the DAFF article about the award and Geoff and Aj’s work here: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/about/news/aba-geoff-pegg-aj-perkins