Forty six new border staff graduated last week boosting New Zealand’s biosecurity frontline.

With training completed of the largest intake of border staff in over a decade, the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) issued warrants to 43 new quarantine inspectors and three new detector dog handlers at a ceremony in Auckland.

Welcoming the new graduates Primary Industries Minister David Carter said, “As Government had planned, these new border staff bring MPI’s bisoecurity frontline up to full strength and will help meet the demands of the summer peak season.”

The majority of the quarantine inspectors will be based in Auckland and five will go to Wellington. The three new dog handlers will go to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Four existing warranted quarantine inspectors who have trained as dog handlers also graduated. They join the 11 detector dog handlers that went through the MPI training centre earlier this year.