International Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) have been developed to provide evidence that a pest is absent, or below an acceptable threshold, from a designated area (Pest Area Freedom, ISPM04; Area of Low Prevalence, ISPM22) or a registered site (ISPM10, pest-free place of production). Surveillance and monitoring are used to provide confidence that the pest is not established around these areas. Here we provide examples of the types of surveillance that are being conducted and could be utilised to declare pest area freedom from high priority pests for the Australian forest industry. Specific surveillance (active surveillance): (1) early-detection surveys at high-risk sites (e.g. ports), including deploying attractant-baited panel traps and assessment of sentinel trees, and (2) forest health monitoring in the plantation estate, including targeted surveillance for High Priority Pests. Surveillance, trapping and tree inspection are designed to increase the chance of detecting target pests. It is also imperative that diagnostics are fit-for-purpose to provide confidence that a suspect pest is accurately and efficiently diagnosed or provide confidence it is not present. We describe the diagnostic methods we have employed to achieve this and discuss opportunities for improvement. General surveillance (passive surveillance) relies on the public, industry, and other stakeholders (e.g. researchers) — citizens — to detect pests, or provide some confidence that pests are not present. We describe the types of activities we utilise to increase participation in general surveillance, including stakeholder engagement and training, fact sheets, and apps. Finally, there is a wealth of historical surveillance and diagnostics data that is captured in Australia’s national fungal and insect collections. We discuss some of the challenges with relying on this data, including taxonomic revisions and lack of cultures and sequences for collections.