Creating a movement

Building a biosecurity team of 4.7 million New Zealanders

Ko Tātou This is Us is an independent biosecurity brand that belongs to the biosecurity community. The brand has been developed as part of the Biosecurity 2025 programme. It is supported by Biosecurity New Zealand, a business unit of the Ministry for Primary Industries, and the wider biosecurity community. 

One of the main themes for Biosecurity 2025 is to build a biosecurity team of 4.7 million - all New Zealanders. We are creating a movement that connects and aligns all the actions and activities by individuals, businesses, iwi/hapū and communities across the biosecurity system and encourages further action. The movement shows all New Zealanders, both individuals and businesses, that they are essential in helping strengthen our biosecurity system and every small action towards better bisoecurity is important. 

Personal relevance

In early 2018, we completed baseline research that showed a high majority of New Zealanders (96%) have a good understanding of biosecurity and think it is important. However, it also revealed that only a small percentage of New Zealanders (2%) think that there are personal consequences for their lives when a biosecurity breach occurs, which suggests that biosecurity is someone else's problem and does not directly impact New Zealanders' everyday lives, passions and loves. New Zealanders are not seeing the personal relevance of biosecurity.

Independent biosecurity brand

To create a biosecurity team of 5 million, the mission was to develop a brand and creative concept that emotionally engages and connects with all New Zealanders and be readily accessible for use by individuals, groups, agencies and organisations across a variety of biosecurity-related programmes and activities.

Ko Tātou This is Us is the independent biosecurity brand with two main objectives:

  1. Unifying and connecting with all New Zealand biosecurity participants and existing programmes and activities occurring across the biosecurity system, and encouraging more programmes to emerge across the system.
  2. Highlight to all New Zealanders the personal impact of biosecurity.

Ko Tātou This is Us is about 'This' - the land, rivers, lakes and sea that nourish and provide for us. These things and the way we interact with them, shape us and our way of life. 

Ko Tātou This is Us emphasises that biosecurity helps to protect our way of life, from the food we enjoy eating, the outdoor environment where we fish, farm, hunt and explore, to the beautiful biodiversity of our unique ecosystem.