ACT Division President Update - October

Advocacy

One of the responsibilities of AVA Divisions is to be involved in advocacy – for and on behalf of animals, animal owners and users, and of course veterinarians. Your division committee has been busy advocating for high standards of animal husbandry and welfare, and for the role of veterinarians in animal care. We submitted extensive and detailed comments on draft updates to the ACT’s Codes of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs and of Horses in July -our submissions have been acknowledged and we await a response from the ACT Animal Welfare Advisory Committee / ACT Government.

While we will continue to monitor for and be involved in local issues, on a larger scale we are willing and keen to be involved in the AVA’s “One Health” initiative, especially advocating for the establishment of a CDC like centre for human, animal and environmental health. In particular, for the inclusion of veterinarians as critical members of such an organisation, particularly in the light of the zoonotic implications or animal source of Lyssavirus, Hendra and, more recently, COVID 19.

An example of ACT veterinarians’ awareness of and sense of responsibility in this space is the series of lectures so capably organised by Dr Alison Taylor some years ago. Local and visiting specialists provided expert guidance on appropriate treatment for many infectious conditions in companion animals, especially considering preservation of antimicrobial effectiveness by best practice selection, dosage, delivery and duration of therapy. We are also very conscious of the benefits of analgesia in production animals and will contribute to AVA efforts to ensure appropriate access to such agents for producers, through and under the guidance of their veterinarian.

Since you may be the first to hear of arising issues that involve or affect our profession and its role in society, please inform us of anything that you think we should know about. You can contact any of the committee members, or email members@ava.com.au.

AVA Committee 2022-23

• Amanda-Lee Charman – AVA Policy Council (Manuka Veterinary Hospital)
• Anna Gabrielson (DAFF)
• Francis Zewe (DAFF)
• John Aspley Davis
• Kevin Doyle
• Michael Hayward – President (Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital)
• Natalie Wood (Gungahlin Veterinary Hospital)
• Natasha Webb – AVA Advocacy Committee (DAFF, Webb Equine Veterinary Service)

AVA Events in the next few months

NightFest at Floriade - John Aspley Davis is organising this casual event where vets, family and other staff can join us to explore Floriade at night - Friday 30th September – it seems John wants to “ experience the electric and energetic party vibe” https://Floriadeaustralia.com. Meet at 6.30 at the entrance; look out for John’s Red Hat 😊.

Oktoberfest - Our Oktbervets event was attended by about 20 vets, keen to have some face to face contact with colleagues and to hear our two excellent speakers.

Mark Schipp revealed his pathway to being appointed as Australia’s Chief Veterinary Officer, and the effort and structure of the nation’s preparedness for Emergency Animal Disease incursions. He provided an excellent briefing on the major threats facing us at the moment - most obviously Foot and Mouth and Lumpy Skin Disease (from Indonesia, but given so much of the world is affected, potentially from other places as well), Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies, and several other risks to our health, that of the animals in our care, and to Australia’s economy and the livelihood of livestock producers. Mark’s presentation was well illustrated and very well received.

Isabelle Resch provided an update on changes in veterinary behavioural medicine over the last decade or so, from changes in the paradigm (we no longer talk about “dominance”) to a very helpful presentation on choice and use of the drugs that we use as part of behavioural intervention and therapy.

Talks like these from experts in the field (Mark as Australia’s most senior veterinarian, Isabelle as a full-time behavioural veterinarian and president of the AVA’s Behaviour Interest Group) are gold dust and I strongly encourage to take opportunities like these when offered.

A very big thanks to Natasha Webb, Fran Zewe, and staff from AVA (especially Amber) for organising such a successful event.

Issues we are involved with:

• Provision of prescription only medications (analgesics and sedatives) to livestock producers
• Availability of out of hours services to large animal owners (including horses)
• Standards Australia review into the standards relating to microchips and Electronic ID in animals (small animals but potentially also livestock)
• And of course planning for next year 😊