Public Consultation on Australia’s Next Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2020 and Beyond

Overview

Four years ago, Australia’s First National Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategy 2015-2019 was published. This Strategy, due to expire at the end of 2019, focuses predominantly on antibacterial resistance taking a One Health approach to address AMR across human health, animal health and agriculture. With significant progress and achievements accomplished in this space since this initial publication, it has become clear that we need to reassess and cultivate the objectives of our response to the threat of AMR in Australia.

Australia’s next AMR Strategy for 2020 and beyond will be a 20 year vision that is flexible, resilient and will expand its focus to include the environment, food and other antimicrobials, such as antifungals and antivirals, becoming all-encompassing in its One Health approach. The long term vision of the next Strategy will encourage the development and implementation of sector-specific action plans to ensure clear accountability in addressing AMR. Stakeholders from across the Australian and state and territory governments, regulators, hospital administrators, standard-setting and accreditation bodies, the pharmaceutical industry, food animal producers and food manufacturers, agriculture, health and veterinary professionals, researchers, educators, professional bodies and consumers all have a role in ensuring actions under the Strategy are effectively implemented.

AMR is a significant global health threat requiring a serious response. Your patronage and counsel is crucial for the health of our future generations. With public consultation now open, we urge you to contribute your expertise within your sector so that we can address and combat the threat of AMR effectively. We also ask that you please share the consultation paper link among appropriate colleagues and friends to gain maximum exposure and contribution to this process.

Important Information - Privacy and Your Personal Information

Your personal information is protected by law, including the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles (APP), and is being collected by the Department of Health, via the Consultation Hub, for the purposes of conducting a consultation process in relation Australia's national antimicrobial resistance strategy.

The Department of Health will collect your personal information at the time that you provide a submission, unless you choose to make a submission anonymously, and you are not reasonably identifiable from the information provided in your submission.

If you consent, the Department of Health may, at its discretion, publish part or all of your submission on the Department of Health website. If your submission is published, the Department of Health may identify you as the author of the submission, if you consent to being identified. 

Submissions which have been published on the Department of Health's website can be accessed by the general public, including people overseas. 

You should not include information in your submission about another individual who is identified, or reasonably identifiable. If you need to include information about another individual in your submission, you will need to inform that individual of the contents of this notice, and obtain their consent to the Department of Health collecting their personal information.

You can get more information about the way in which the Department of Health will manage your personal information, including our privacy policy, at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/privacy-policy  

The APP privacy policy contains information about:

• how you may access the personal information the Department holds about you and how you can seek correction of it; and
• how you may complain about a breach of the APPs; or
  • a registered APP code that binds the Department; and
  • how the Department will deal with such a complaint.

You can obtain a copy of the APP privacy policy by contacting the Department of Health by telephone on (02) 6289 1555 or freecall 1800 020 103 or by using the online enquiries form at www.health.gov.au

Why your views matter

We aim to ensure that all interested stakeholders have the opportunity to be involved in the consultation process and contribute to the development of the next National AMR Strategy.

What happens next

Following the consultation process, the Department of Health and Department of Agriculture and Water Resources will jointly:

• prepare the final progress report under the First Strategy for publication at www.amr.gov.au and
• progress Australia’s next AMR Strategy to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), through its relevant subcommittees, for national endorsement.