Plant Health Australia (PHA) recently launched a new e-learning Industry Liaison Officer (ILO) program consisting of an online ILO course and face-to-face ILO workshop.
The program is designed to improve response readiness of industry representatives that may be called on to work in the incident management structure during a response, and to understand their roles and responsibilities. ILOs contribute to decision-making by providing the affected industry’s perspective on aspects of the operational response. Their experience and knowledge of their respective industries allow them to provide advice on potential impacts of response strategies and actions. ILOs are also important links to support industry communication and engagement during response activities.
The enhanced program offers a new ILO e-learning course and redesigned training workshop to provide greater in-depth knowledge and the opportunity to develop skills needed for undertaking an industry liaison role during a plant biosecurity response.

ILO e-learning course

The enhanced e-learning course, hosted on PHA’s Biosecurity Online Training platform (BOLT) is a prerequisite to the workshop but also acts as just-in-time and refresher training. The course covers foundational knowledge needed to understand an ILO’s position and reporting obligations within an incident management structure.

ILO workshop

The workshop is delivered in collaboration with the state or territory government where it is being held and includes training on the role and responsibilities of response functional areas, such as Public Information, Planning, and the Incident Controller. This provides participants with an understanding of the situations they would face as an ILO during a response and what their own roles and responsibilities would be. The training also provides an opportunity to foster partnerships between industries and government.

“The workshop explores realistic tasks that an ILO would perform during a response and their required responsibilities,” said Dr Driessen.

Over the next two years, one-day ILO workshops will be held in each state and territory.

If you are interested in the ILO role and attending a workshop, discuss it with your peak industry body and submit an Expression of Interest to training@phau.com.au.

The next ILO workshop is scheduled for 25 May 2023 in Tasmania. Visit our BOLT platform for more information.

Amanda Yong
National Manager, Marketing and Manager
0427 000 210
ayong@phau.com.au