One key issue in safeguarding Australia’s rural industries from exotic diseases and pests is successfully communicating the risks to all parties involved.

How best to do this is the focus of a new collaborative research project involving Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Federal Government agencies.

The $230 000, two year project will examine how agricultural quarantine issues are assessed and communicated to government, media, affected industries and communities across Australian states and territories.

“While scientific certainty plays a key role in identifying quarantine risks, it is the uncertainty that presents a dilemma when communicating with key stakeholders,” said CSU researcher Andrea Grant.

“Risk analysis is complex - the greater the number of stakeholders, the more complex it becomes. Modelling the communication of this risk will help reduce the possibility of exclusion and misunderstanding,” Ms Grant added.

The research is funded by CSU and the Federal Government’s Rural Industries Research Development Corporation, Biosecurity Australia and the Bureau of Rural Sciences.

This project will extend Ms Grant’s PhD research regarding quarantine risk issues for the apple, pear and poultry industries in Victoria and NSW to include the citrus, bee and pork industries in other states.