A newly formed government-industry sheep and goat traceability taskforce (SGTTF) has been set up to assist in rolling out the national mandatory individual electronic identification (eID) system for sheep and goats.
And the set date to 'go live' is January 1, 2025.
This means all systems could be up and running with a majority of animals tagged by January 1, 2025.
The push for eIDs for sheep and goats came after the increased threat of FMD and lumpy skin disease entering the country when they were identified in Indonesia in May.
In July, state agricultural ministers agreed "in principle" to work on a national approach to adopting an electronic livestock tracing scheme.
By September, agricultural ministers had confirmed their commitment for the government to work collaboratively with industry to advance work on a national approach to Australia's livestock traceability systems.
WoolProducers Australia CEO and peak body representative for wool, Jo Hall, said what 'go live' means is still being determined.
"The sheep and goat traceability taskforce is being charged with working through the issues and reporting back to ministers by the end of this year," Ms Hall said.
"The SGTTF has been established under the National Biosecurity Committee to jointly progress implementation.
"The taskforce is being supported by a co-design initiative between industry and government that has been established to determine things such as time lines and costings.
"There is a lot of work to be covered over the next two months building on the existing traceability framework that has been in place for over a decade.
"WoolProducers are keen to ensure that this traceability reform results in a truly harmonised and equitably funded system to support industry's biosecurity credentials."
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The four main actions the taskforce are responsible for are:
1. Implementation - developing the national rollout plan including the timeline working towards January 1.
2. Harmonisation - reviewing and amending relevant rules and systems including NLIS business rules to support a nationally harmonised fit for purpose system.
3. Affordability - clarifying costs and funding or other support to drive rapid and widespread adoption
4. Continuous improvement - by providing advice on actions to support and improve livestock traceability systems overall.
Membership of the taskforce is an independent chairperson appointed by the National Biosecurity Committee (NBS), Mr Ron Cullen, with representatives from NSW, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Commonwealth (representing the other jurisdictions).
Representation will also come from SafeMeat, and peak councils for sheep, wool, goats, beef and or dairy cattle industries, retailers, processors and smallgoods.
