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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (4 September) . . Page.. 3069 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I am pleased to take the opportunity to inform members of the release of the ACT weeds strategy, which is a 10-year strategy for implementing a coordinated program for controlling weeds in the ACT. Weeds are estimated to cost Australian primary producers more than $3 billion a year in control costs and yield losses. For the ACT, an estimate of the loss of production directly attributable to our worst agricultural weed - serrated tussock - is put at more than $500,000. There are no figures to account for the cost of environmental weeds which degrade natural systems, reduce amenity of the urban environment, increase fire hazards, shelter pest animals and provide hosts for plant disease. The cost is likely to be as high as for primary production.

Weeds have the potential to lay waste otherwise productive land; choke out and threaten the continued existence of native flora; replace pasture; and affect the health and productivity of livestock. Weeds come to us by a variety of human activities. Some arrive by accident as unwilling passengers on imports; others arrive as a result of deliberate actions or thoughtlessness. Also, in a less enlightened era, we planted to remind us of home or more exotic climes. The prickly pear and the scotch thistle fall into these categories.

The purpose of the ACT weeds strategy is to achieve more effective weed control than in the past, by determining priority actions and by concentrating resources on those priority actions in a strategic manner. Current weed control in the ACT results in a diffuse and often sporadic effort, which sometimes fails to recognise the impact of the program on neighbouring land. Just as neighbouring land managers need to act in concert to deal with common weed issues, ACT land managers need to liaise with authorities in surrounding New South Wales to ensure that specific weed problems are tackled cooperatively. The strategy calls for this coordinated approach to be taken.

Development of an ACT weeds strategy was commenced in 1995, in recognition of the need for a new, integrated approach to weed control. A draft ACT weeds strategy was widely distributed for comment earlier this year. The preparation of the draft was overseen by a group which included representatives of agencies with land management responsibilities, the ACT Rural Lessees Association and the Conservation Council of the South-East Region and Canberra. Prior to finalising the strategy, a public forum was held, attended by some 50 representatives of community and interest groups, including shires and councils from New South Wales, as well as by individuals with an interest in the area.

The resultant ACT weeds strategy provides a mechanism for government and community to work in partnership within available resources and priorities. When all stakeholders focus their efforts and resources on a particular weed problem in a particular area, there is an excellent chance that the problem will be brought under control. This Government is committed to the continued involvement of the community in weed eradication, through such bodies as Parkcare and Landcare. We see that they have a vital role to play in the success of the weeds strategy. The people of the ACT owe a debt of gratitude to those volunteers who work for the benefit of the whole community.

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