It is well understood that Australia operates one of the most comprehensive biosecurity systems in the world, but for what benefit? Without a clear understanding of the specific monetary benefits obtained from the existing investment in biosecurity activities it is impossible to determine the extent to which the system is achieving its desired objectives (i.e., its ‘health’) and also whether there is scope to increase either the value or health of the system by altering the allocation of resources.

In response, Dr Aaron Dodd (Chief Investigator with CEBRA) and the department are undertaking a project titled: Value Added - modelling the marginal return on investment within and across pathways.

This project seeks to build on the earlier CEBRA Value project to develop a transparent and repeatable approach for comparing the relative costs and benefits of different levels of intervention within and across two pilot pathways as a proof of concept. Fully implemented, this project and its outputs have the potential to transform the department’s approach to allocating resources to different risk controls significantly improving both its efficiency and its effectiveness.