Sweeping weed ban: A win for Aussie farmers
21 Jan 2005
Farmers around the country and the Australian environment will benefit from a federal government decision to close a quarantine loophole that allowed the legal import of thousands of serious weeds.
Currently more than 125,000 plant species are legally allowed to be imported into the country, which is nearly half of all plant species on Earth, with no weed risk assessment. Under the changes all these plants will have to be screened.
The change in law will also mean more than 6,400 weeds, a good number of which could have made their way into Australian gardens, will now be banned from entering the country. This includes 4,000 known overseas weeds, and at least another 2,400 plant species predicted to become weeds in Australia. If these weeds did enter Australia, they could create an agricultural nightmare for farmers who are already battling many invasive species.
Weeds cost Australia an average of $4 billion a year and cause large production losses in the beef, wool and wheat industries. This equates to $1 lost out of every $7 Australia's farmers earn in exports. The cost has doubled in just 20 years and is likely to increase.
WWF-Australia commissioned the benchmark Weeds CRC report that alerted governments and industry to the huge number of new weeds which could be imported through the loophole.
WWF Biodiversity Policy Manager Andreas Glanznig says, "This is a sound and smart solution to prevent new weeds from invading Australia through this loophole. Once fully implemented it will achieve world's best practice in preventing the legal import of new weeds into a country."
Recently the import and sale of a significant new grazing weed, bear-skin fescue, which entered Australia through the loophole, demonstrated the unnecessary risk that Australia was exposed to.
This action will stop the potential legal import of a multitude of serious environmental and agricultural weeds:
- Cropping weeds such as brome grass (Bromus arvensis), and water hemp (Amaranthus tubculatus), which has developed extensive herbicide resistance in the USA. Persian darnel (Lolium persicum), closely related to annual ryegrass, can be a problem in cropping and can currently be imported.
- Grazing weeds such as speargrasses in the stipa genus, and close relatives (from the same genus) of blackberry, grader grass, pampas grass, yellow star thistle, knapweed, dandelions, scotch broom, kochia, wild radish and bellyache bush.
- Horticultural weeds such as various sourgrass weeds in the Paspalum genus which are considered serious weeds of orchards.
- Environmental weeds such as close relatives of blackberry, cotoneaster, morning glory, and scotch broom.
Download the Closing Australia's Quarantine Loophole to New Weeds issues paper for more information.
For further information and to arrange interviews please contact:
Andreas Glanznig, WWF Biodiversity Policy Manager- Mobile 0417 020 174
Or WWF Communications Officer Virginia Dew (02) 8202 1290 or email- vdew@wwf.org.au
or Jacqueline McArthur (02) 9281 5515 Mobile 0408 626 780
