Vector Surveillance Officer

APS 4 - $74,882 - $81,521 per annum plus superannuation
- Biosecurity Plant and Science Services Division
- Perth, WA
- _The Vector Monitoring Program is one of the department’s longest operating and most important surveillance programs. _
- _Work on the frontline protecting Australians from exotic mosquitoes _
- _Have the perfect mix of field and office work_

**Who we are**
**The Biosecurity Plant and Science Services Division (BPSSD) **safeguards Australia’s plant health status to achieve, maintain and expand overseas markets, while protecting the economy and environment. The division includes four branches, which together focus on providing scientific analysis and technical advice, facilitating the safe importation of plants and plant products, improving systems, market access, capacity building and stakeholder engagement. The division provides diagnostics, with advice on biosecurity risk and measures, and biosecurity training. The division conducts surveillance and response at first points of entry and approved arrangements sites nationally, and delivers plant, animal and aquatic health surveillance in northern Australia. The division works closely with communities and Indigenous rangers and regulates biosecurity risk in the Torres Strait.

**Science and Surveillance Group (SSG) **is comprised of scientists, operations and support staff responsible for regulatory advice and training, technical input to biosecurity policy, regulation activity in the Torres Strait and diverse surveillance and diagnostic services around Australia, including animal and plant health surveillance measures under the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy.

**The Surveillance Section **is one of the four national Sections delivering diagnostic or surveillance activities within the Operational Science & Surveillance (OSS) component of the Science & Surveillance Group (SSG). The Section is comprised of the National Border Surveillance, Vector Monitoring Program (VMP) and Hitchhiker Surveillance Program teams and is led by a management team consisting of a Director, Assistant Directors and APS 6 Senior Surveillance Officers.

**The Job**
Under general direction of the Regional Vector Coordinator (RVC) the duties of the roles include, but are not limited to:

- Maintaining regular communication with their RVC and seeking and following advice to deliver vector monitoring tasks to the required standard of the work instructions.
- Maintaining cooperation with external stakeholders associated with the Vector Monitoring Program (VMP), including port and approved arrangement (AA) operators, other Commonwealth and State/Territory/Local government agencies and treatment providers.
- Being responsible for conducting routine vector and, if required, plant-pest monitoring activities appropriate to port risk assessments, including placement, installation, maintenance, and servicing of all trap types operated by the department.
- Gaining and using knowledge of mosquito biology to guide effective delivery of vector monitoring activities including the optimum methods for sampling, placing traps, and knowing when and where to sample mosquitoes.
- Conducting regular surveillance activities at first points of entry, high-risk AA sites and other importer premises, including formal ground surveys, by:

- identifying, describing, and mapping known or potential mosquito breeding sites,
- assessing biosecurity risk pathways, planning field surveillance for other plant pests,
- using appropriate sampling methods to determine the mosquito and, if required, plant-pest species and weeds present in the port environment and their relative abundances,
- assessing overall receptiveness of each surveillance location, including factors such as sanitation, breeding sites, frequency of conveyance movements and cargo types,
- initiating and managing risk-mitigation actions through liaison with department staff and stakeholders,
- entering and providing data regularly to the RVC within required timeframes, as required contributing to the accurate collection and recording of other surveillance data,
- preparing written reports documenting surveillance activities and outcomes.
- Preparing, maintaining, and annually updating a consolidated vector ‘toolbox’ for each port consisting of
- aerial maps of the ports and high-risk AAs, with trap locations,
- descriptions of each trap including type, location, and frequency of inspection,
- current copies of all vector related work instructions, including national response guidelines, copies of raw data worksheets
- a list of local and national vector contacts within our department and the State/Territory health agency.
- Managing specimens collected by:

- establishing and rearing cultures of mosquito larvae collected by surveillance,
- using appropriate diagnostic resources, including taxonomic keys of appropriate regional or taxonomic focus, to complete morphological identifications of adult and larval mosquitoes,
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