Primary Industries and Resources, South Australia (PIRSA) together with Australian Pork Limited (APL) will conduct a pig industry emergency animal disease (EAD) exercise named “Exercise Charlotte’s Webâ€.
PIRSA’s manager, Livestock Industry Biosecurity, Dr Neil Buchanan said the desk top exercise, planned to take place on Oct 21-22, is designed to test national and state policy planning while at the same time further develop and strengthening industry/government relations.
“PIRSA will work with the industry to understand the way state and national industry representatives make decisions and establish appropriate consultation mechanisms to be used during an EAD response.â€
APL chief executive officer Andrew Spencer says the experience gained doing such an exercise will be invaluable. “By robustly testing our crisis management plan, PorkSAFE, we will be able to pinpoint and address any weaknesses that emerge as well as strengthen our preparedness and recovery efforts. This exercise will also enable the industry to identify future areas for policy development in response to major operational challenges.”