{"id":615763,"date":"2026-04-18T20:39:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615763\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T20:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:39:18","slug":"damage-control-at-csiros-geelong-biosecurity-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615763\/","title":{"rendered":"Damage control at CSIRO\u2019s Geelong biosecurity facility"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a frontline service, runs 24\/7 and contains specimens of some of the world\u2019s most dangerous infectious diseases, including Ebola. Upholding its severe standards of biosecurity \u2013 it\u2019s one of the southern hemisphere\u2019s few buildings of which parts are classified as PC4 (for \u201cphysical containment level four\u201d), the most secure category \u2013 requires sophisticated engineers and niche architectural expertise, and its staff\u2019s unerring compliance with elaborate protocols. It was here the Hendra virus was first identified, and where the first animal testing of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine occurred.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness and, despite its sensitivity, uniqueness and accomplishments, it\u2019s quite likely you\u2019ve never heard of it before.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, in a series of recent public hearings and the CSIRO\u2019s own submission last year to a parliamentary committee on public works, the necessity for the facility\u2019s significant upgrading was revealed to be concerningly overdue.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Previously known as the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, it opened at its East Geelong site \u2013 beside Stingaree Bay \u2013 in 1985, principally as a place to study and test for foot-and-mouth disease. The planning, construction and eventual opening were intensely controversial at the time. Farming groups, and plenty within virology\u2019s scientific community, passionately opposed its existence \u2013 the importation of foot-and-mouth disease for research was thought excessively risky.<\/p>\n

The site\u2019s construction prevailed, even if it didn\u2019t quite fulfil the vision of then CSIRO chief Dr J. Paul Wild that the compound would eventually be considered, like the Sydney Opera House, \u201ca national cultural symbol and as a world-famous landmark\u201d.<\/p>\n

As Covid-19 emerged in 2020, the Morrison government renamed the facility to better publicly reflect its broader mandate. While the facility was still charged with protecting Australian livestock and aquaculture by detecting and researching infectious disease \u2013 as well as certifying our livestock exports as disease-free \u2013 scientists in the complex \u201cconcrete bunker\u201d were also protecting the human population from \u201czoonotic disease threats\u201d.<\/p>\n

Professor Peter Doherty, later a Nobel-winning immunologist, sat on the scientific committee in the 1970s advising the government on its construction. While supportive of the facility in theory, he objected then to its design and location. He hasn\u2019t changed his mind. \u201c[The design] was too rigid and it was built in too low a place,\u201d he tells The Saturday Paper. \u201cIt\u2019s too close to the sea and I wonder how rising ocean levels may affect this in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now massively out of date.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost of things increased after Covid \u2013 inflation went through the roof. And all the planning we\u2019d done was no longer viable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The facility was designed in the 1970s, and the first sod turned in 1978 before its opening in 1985. It was meant to have a century lifespan, though elements of the facility had a shelf life of 30 years. CSIRO has been planning for these redevelopments for well over a decade now.<\/p>\n

When Doherty refers to the facility\u2019s rigidity, he means its inability to adapt to or accommodate future technologies. Its nesting of several concrete boxes \u2013 30 centimetres thick and each with a progressively lower air pressure to prevent airborne leakage \u2013 is an exceptionally secure design but not a terribly adaptable one.<\/p>\n

In a submission dated August last year, CSIRO put in a funding request to the parliamentary standing committee on public works. It was a pitch for the funding of major refurbishments, as well as the construction of a new, adjacent laboratory that would ultimately be connected to the existing facility, at the estimated cost of $372 million and a late 2028 completion.<\/p>\n

Contained in the submission were four detailed proposals for the redevelopment and their preference for the one outlined above. Within that, though, was the following: \u201cThis refurbishment has been planned for more than 10 years and has been postponed due to various factors,\u201d the submission read. \u201cFurther delays will increase the risk to operations from equipment failure and regulatory non-compliance in several key areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the report was mute, however, on what those \u201cvarious factors\u201d were. I was curious to know what circumstances might have conspired to delay by up to a decade the significant improvements to such a\u00a0profoundly sensitive site.<\/p>\n

Indeed, in its eventual report, the committee wrote it had \u201cheard that a\u00a0midlife refurbishment is well overdue to address certain building services and fit outs which are past their planned operational life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CSIRO submitted that the primary deficiencies of the ACDP in its current state are age-related infrastructure and equipment failures, non-compliance placing constraints on capability to handle specific pathogens and conduct research according to modern research standards, and outmoded laboratory design.\u201d<\/p>\n

CSIRO says the facility remains world-class and entirely safe, and The Saturday Paper does not suggest otherwise. A current staff member at the facility repeated this assurance to me \u2013 one they also frequently share with their family.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, questions remained about the \u201cvarious factors\u201d that created the delays in upgrading such vital infrastructure. In public hearings held by the committee in November last year, CSIRO\u2019s director of business and infrastructure services, Fiona Rothwell, said: \u201cAs ACDP is in its 40th year of operation, certain components, such as some building services and fit-out, are past their planned operational lives and are overdue for refurbishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cACDP was designed to have a 100-year life span, with anticipated refurbishment at 30 years. The original, 1970s-designed laboratory layout was not designed for the advances made in scientific approaches and requires updating to comply with current requirements for laboratories and animal studies. CSIRO has evaluated multiple options for the future of the ACDP facility since 2013.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those components are the facility\u2019s autoclaves \u2013 its steam sterilisation machines \u2013 which are now well outdated and require constant repairs.<\/p>\n

The ACDP produces enormous amounts of contaminated waste, all of which must be treated onsite before its removal. The autoclaves, along with incineration and chemical disinfection, is one way of treating the waste. To give you a scale of the logistics here, in 2024 the ACDP \u2013 with ethical approval \u2013 performed 248 animal experiments involving just over one million creatures. Of those, 752,000 were humanely killed, of which 645,000 were fish.<\/p>\n

The Saturday Paper asked CSIRO if it could elaborate on the \u201cvarious factors\u201d that have delayed the facility\u2019s refurbishment and construction of a new lab, if it had received any concerns from staff about these delays, and if it was just as safe and secure as it was 10 years ago \u2013 before certain elements, like its autoclaves, passed their use-by dates.<\/p>\n

CSIRO\u2019s response wasn\u2019t any more revealing than its submission. A spokesperson reiterated the importance of the facility, and that the parliamentary committee for public works had not only approved the funding but prioritised it. The spokesperson added: \u201cACDP was designed and purpose-built with duplicated and triplicated physical containment systems, ensuring there are multiple containment barriers in place at all times.<\/p>\n

\u201cCSIRO has been open about ACDP\u2019s ageing infrastructure, and the challenges and importance of maintaining this vital piece of national infrastructure, including in its submission to the Parliamentary Committee for Public Works in 2025 and with regulators. We continue to be proactive in safely managing the infrastructure until refit construction commences shortly. This includes expediting priority infrastructure upgrades in advance of the refit commencing, conducting regular risk assessments on major plant and equipment, additional engineering controls, and increasing resourcing of site-based health and safety teams. The safety of staff and the community is the highest priority for CSIRO across all our facilities, including ACDP.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Saturday Paper also spoke with a current staff member at the facility, one familiar with its requirements and building proposals, to ask what contributed to these delays. \u201cTo start, this is an unusually complex facility,\u201d they said. \u201cIt\u2019s huge and largely without precedent in the world for its size. There aren\u2019t many contractors who can build to our unique specifications \u2026 There aren\u2019t many in the world who build them [autoclaves] as large as we need. We treat cows, horses, alpacas in them. They need to be atypically huge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also thought about gutting the place and keeping the shell. But it\u2019s so difficult to maintain PC3 and PC4 status while doing a\u00a0major refit. Think of a house renovation, when parts of it are inhabitable and some aren\u2019t, and you\u2019re shifting things between the two. We couldn\u2019t do that. So, aside from the refurbishments, a greenfield build was decided the best option. To build on a nearby grassed area and for the new lab to be tethered [to the existing compound].\u201d<\/p>\n

The uniquely complex demands of both the ACDP\u2019s refurbishment and new development, then, were offered by this insider as one reason for the delay. But there was another: \u201cfunding pressures,\u201d they said. \u201cThe cost of things increased after Covid \u2013 inflation went through the roof. And all the planning we\u2019d done was no longer viable. So we went to government and asked for more. We told them it\u2019s blown out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The staff member also said colleagues were concerned that recent cuts to CSIRO had reduced support staff at the facility \u2013 something echoed to The Saturday Paper by Anthony Keenan, a spokesperson for the Community and Public Sector Union\u2019s CSIRO Staff Association.<\/p>\n

The funding for CSIRO\u2019s proposed stage one refit and new development \u2013 the $372\u00a0million \u2013 has been approved, and insiders are grateful. Long delayed upgrades should be addressed.<\/p>\n

But that they were delayed, one CSIRO scientist tells The Saturday Paper, is further proof to them that Australia\u2019s highly complex scientific infrastructure \u2013 whether it\u2019s Canberra\u2019s super computer or the ACDP \u2013 is too often the casualty of political myopia, or short-termism.<\/p>\n

If their public value is uncontested, they say, then their maintenance or redevelopment should not be uncertain or piecemeal. Custodianship of their health requires governments to consider their future \u2013 a future that extends beyond their re-election.<\/p>\n

I shared this with one current staff member of the ACDP and they agreed in principle. However, they said, the facility\u2019s upgrade was still subject to the design and procurement complexities they\u2019d discussed, and supply-chain blockages and inflation played their parts too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose it\u2019s a matter of political priorities,\u201d they said, \u201cbut it\u2019s also an issue of a really unique design and sourcing issues. But I can assure you that the place is very safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on
\n April 18, 2026 as “Damage control”.<\/p>\n

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