The future of weeds in Australia is in good hands with the commencement of a project to design a new framework for managing weeds in Australia.
Natural resource management company Wild Matters has been contracted by the Australian Government to work with stakeholders to co-design a new framework.
Assistant Secretary of the Biosecurity Response and Reform branch at the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Ms Josephine Laduzko, said the partnership was a chance to rewrite the books on weed management.
“Together with Wild Matters we will co-design a National Established Weed Priorities (NEWP) Framework; develop five Weeds of National Significance (WoNS) best practice control manuals and produce a report that proposes a national delivery approach for the NEWP framework,” Ms Laduzko said.
“This is vital work. Nationally, weeds are estimated to cost over $4 billion per year in control measures and production losses.”
“The previous weeds management framework was the WoNS initiative which is now 20 years old – the landscape of weed management has changed in that time”, Ms Laduzko said.
“While providing many successes, the WoNS initiative also highlighted what we can do better.”
“There are gaps in our information that we need to address, and we also need to move beyond a single species approach.”
“This new project seeks to harness these learnings, providing a framework for improving weed management for the future.”
“The department is looking forward to working with Wild Matters to deliver a new national approach to weeds.”
Once finalised, the new package of strategic documents will be presented to the national Environment and Invasives Committee for endorsement as a deliverable of the Australian Weeds Strategy.
Fast Facts:
- Wild Matters Pty Ltd was the successful tenderer through a procurement process advertised on Austender.
- Nationally, established weeds are estimated to cost over $4 billion per year in control actions and production losses.
- The 2019 ABARES survey found agricultural businesses spend an average of $10,551 and 61 days a year on weed management activities.