Human behaviour is at the core of many challenges we’re facing across Northern Australia. Chief amongst these are the threats posed by biosecurity incursions across our agricultural industries.

Despite significant investments in policy, education, and technical solutions, we continue to face challenges to effective biosecurity management in Australian agriculture. Preparation and responses to biosecurity threats comprise a series of interconnected behaviours and attitudes across multiple stakeholder groups. In other words, improving biosecurity preparedness involves shifting the attitudes and behaviours of people.

This presentation will highlight the important role of behavioural science in supporting biosecurity responses. The presentation will take a case study approach by describing a large body of work conducted in partnership with behavioural science organisation, Evidn, the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPIRD), QLD Department of Primary Industries (DPI), and Agriculture Victoria. Dubbed Protect Our Production, the project involves a multi-state partnership to improve biosecurity for Australia.

The presentation will describe the relevance of behavioural science to address biosecurity challenges, and describe the methodology and results to date from the Protect Our Production initiative. The presentation will end with practical take-home strategies for implementation, and ideas to further expand this model throughout Northern Australia to improve our response to biosecurity incursions.