Responding to emergency animal diseases

An outbreak of a serious emergency animal disease (EAD) could seriously damage the Australian economy, environment, livestock industries or impact human health. Responding to EADs requires a coordinated response, drawing on significant resources and input from all tiers of government and industry.

Each state or territory government is responsible for managing EAD outbreaks in their jurisdictions. The Australian Veterinary Emergency Plan (AUSVETPLAN) is a comprehensive series of manuals and documents that contains the nationally agreed approach for the response to emergency animal disease incidents in Australia.

Generally, Australian policy is to eradicate any introduced exotic emergency animal disease as quickly as possible by establishing declared areas and implementing a number of control measures.

More information

For more information read the Responding to emergency animal diseases factsheet PDF (1.9 MB).