Minister for Biosecurity and Food Safety
Hon Andrew Hoggard is the Minister for Biosecurity and Food Safety and the Associate Minister of Agriculture (Animal Welfare, Skills) and for the Environment. Andrew farms in the Manawatu. With a strong agricultural background and a passion for food and agriculture he has developed an extensive knowledge of dairy, agriculture, sheep farming, pasture management, animal health and nutrition and large-scale production system. Qualified in Applied Economics, Andrew is a lifelong dairy farmer who served on the International Dairy Federation, and locally as a member of Federated Farmers where he worked his way to the role of President of Federated Farmers of New Zealand. He held this role until 2023 and later the same year was elected to Parliament as an ACT Party MP.
Director of Diagnostics, Readiness and Surveillance
Fleur is the Director of Diagnostics, Readiness and Surveillance at the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). She is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and operational management of biosecurity surveillance, investigations, diagnostics, and readiness for animal, plant, and aquatic biosecurity threats nationwide. This includes delivery of biosecurity post border functions to facilitate trade and minimise the impacts of harmful pests and diseases that impact the sustainability of the primary sectors and the environment. Fleur previously held leadership roles in policy and operations at MPI, Callaghan Innovation, Ministry of Health, and Ministry for the Environment. She has a PhD in Biochemistry and worked as a research scientist in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Mt Sinai Hospital, New York. She started her public sector career doing risk assessments of new organisms at the Environmental Risk Management Authority (now EPA) and advising on policy regarding the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act.
Director, Biosecurity and Risk
Brendan Gould is the Director of Biosecurity and Risk at the New Zealand Forest Owners Association and the Forest Growers Levy Trust. He provides leadership and expertise to support the plantation forest industry on all aspects of biosecurity, while building key relationships across New Zealand’s biosecurity system. Brendan ensures the sector’s needs are represented in major biosecurity and forest protection initiatives, including science and research. He also leads the industry’s biosecurity work programme under the Forest Biosecurity Committee. Brendan is a Director of Phytos (the forestry sector’s phytosanitary treatment entity) and GIA Operations Limited (which administers the Government Industry Agreement Secretariat and Deed). He also represents the forest sector, on the Better Border Biosecurity (B3) Collaboration Council.
General Manager, Hazardous Substances and New Organisms
Chris joined the EPA in December 2020. Chris has a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Biology from Durham University (UK) and completed a PhD at Griffith University, Australia.Chris has extensive experience in environmental regulation having undertaken various roles within the Environment Department of the Queensland Government, Australia for the past 20 years. His most recent roles were responsible for waste management compliance and environmental approvals for industry, local governments and coastal development.Prior to joining the Queensland Government, Chris was a member of the Zoology Department at James Cook University, Queensland where he conducted research on spatial and temporal patterns of biodiversity.
CEBRA
Professor Andrew Robinson; BSc, MS, MS, PhD. is a statistician and biosecurity risk scientist. He is Professor in Applied Statistics and CEO of the Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, The University of Melbourne. He is an elected fellow of the International Statistical Institute. He has been lead researcher on policy and regulatory-sensitive analytics research projects with Defence, the Clean Energy Regulator, Energy Safe Victoria, Department of Home Affairs, AgResearch (NZ), Scion (NZ), Kiwi Vine Health (NZ) and the Office of Transport Security. He is Chief investigator for CEBRA, which is jointly funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries. He has a strong understanding of and history working in the regulatory biosecurity environment with a focus on animal, plant and environmental health, and has a significant track record in translating research into practice in biosecurity practice and policy nationally and internationally.
Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor and Advocate for Evidence-Based Policy
Dr John Roche is New Zealand’s Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser and Chief Departmental Scientist at the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). With a distinguished career spanning academia, government, and industry, Dr Roche brings a systems-level perspective to science policy and innovation.He holds a PhD in animal nutrition from University College Dublin and has held academic and research positions in Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. As an adjunct professor at the University of Auckland’s School of Biological Sciences, he maintains strong ties to the academic community.At MPI, Dr Roche has led major science initiatives, including the strategic response to Mycoplasma bovis and the development of the Science for Farmers programme. His work emphasises the integration of scientific evidence into policy and operational frameworks, particularly in the primary industries.Appointed in 2025 as the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser, Dr Roche also serves as Deputy Chair of the newly formed Science and Technology Advisory Council. The council is tasked with advising on science and innovation funding priorities, with a focus on economic impact and strategic investment. His leadership is instrumental in shaping a science system that is both rigorous and responsive to national needs.
Plant & Food Research
Principal Scientist & Science Team Leader - Pathogen Biosecure Environments, Plant & Food Research and current President of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society.
Grant is a plant pathologist and published the first RT-PCR diagnostic for a dsRNA plant virus in 1992. He was the inaugural Program Manager of B3 2005-2010 and subsequently led the Effective Detection and Response Program in the Canberra-based CRC for Plant Biosecurity 2012-2018. Since 2015, Grant has been an invited Instructor at the annual Plant Biosecurity in Theory & Practise Course at the Biosecurity Research Institute in the USA. Since 2017, he has lead and contributed to the science response to the incursion of the myrtle rust pathogen, Austropuccinia psidii, into Aotearoa, including understanding pathogen resistance in taonga myrtaceae species, contributing to the pathogen genome assembly, investigating the molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity and the development of targeted control options including dsRNA/ RNAi technology. He currently co-supervises three PhD students, having previously co-supervised ten PhD and three Masters candidates to award of degree at Australian and New Zealand Universities.
Manager, Biosecurity
Clare is the manager of DOC’s Biosecurity team and has worked on issues related to biosecurity, invasive species and conservation for more than two decades in New Zealand, and Europe. She has been involved with work related to the illegal persecution of songbirds in Cyprus, the poisoning of vultures with cattle medicine in south Asia, and the governance of biosecurity responses in New Zealand. Her current team provides advice across DOC on new biosecurity issues and how they might impact on DOC’s work. She has a Masters degree in Conservation Science, and undergraduate degrees in Law and Biology.
Plant & Food Research
Dr David Teulon is Principal Scientist Invasive Species Asia – Pacific at Plant and Food Research. David stepped down as the B3 Director in 2023 after 10 years. He is the ‘regional champion’ for the Pacific Islands in the global research collaboration initiative Euphresco III. David has postgraduate degrees in horticulture and entomology and has worked at research institutes or universities in the Netherlands, USA and Germany. He has broad experience in plant protection, plant biosecurity and biodiversity and has been a member of numerous national biosecurity working groups and committees and has represented New Zealand at several international fora. He is an Adjunct Professor at Lincoln University. David was made a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences in 2017, a Companion of The Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2021 and was awarded an Individual / Lifetime Achievement Award from Science NZ in 2023.
Chief Biosecurity Officer
Mr Pete Thomson is the Chief Biosecurity Officer for the Ministry for Primary Industries. He is responsible for the whole-of-system biosecurity strategy, oversight, assurance and GIA (the Government Industry Agreement). He has previously held roles leading development of animal and plant health import regulations, enabling plant and animal product exports, national surveillance, eradication, and long-term pest management programmes across plant, animal and marine sectors.
15–16 July 2025
Oceania Room, Te Papa, Wellington