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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (18 February) . . Page.. 17 ..

MS HORODNY (continuing):

Rural lessees are also struggling to deal with weed infestation on their properties, which also has a very direct financial cost to them, in terms of the impact on their farm income; yet the Government seems to be making it harder for rural lessees by steadily increasing their land rents while farm income falls. I note that the Government is currently reviewing its rural lease policy. So, I hope that the review will include adequate measures to encourage rural lessees to undertake land care activities on their properties. I have had a number of letters from rural lessees saying that, because the rental that they are now paying on their properties is going up so substantially, they are not able to do the sorts of land care and weed control work that they have undertaken in the past. So, it is a real issue of concern.

The implementation of the strategy requires very good information, obviously, on where the major problem spots are. This requires the establishment of a detailed geographic information system - a GIS - that can track the spread of these weeds. The Conservation Council has already done some very good work in this area in undertaking its own weeds survey and conducting its own GIS. It would be very helpful, I believe, if the Government gave greater acknowledgment to the work that the Conservation Council has already done. The strategy could have gone into much more detail about distinguishing the different types of weed infestation in nature reserves, rural areas and urban areas. The causes of weed infestation and the methods of controlling these weeds in these different areas vary very much from one area to another. For example, the spread of weeds into the Canberra Nature Park is often caused by seeds being spread by birds which have fed on garden plants in surrounding suburbs. So, as well as controlling weeds in the park, there needs to be a control on the sale of invasive species through the nurseries.

Another major problem in the past has been roadside weed management. Roads are a major corridor for the spread of weeds, and there has been a lack of attention given to controlling roadside weeds, in rural areas particularly. I have been to a number of rural lessees' properties over the last couple of years and have seen how their weed infestation is caused directly by the weeds that are growing on the roads near them, which is a direct government responsibility.

More attention needs to be paid to the public health aspects of herbicide use. We recognise that sometimes there are no alternatives to using herbicides on weeds, but the Government needs to ensure that users of herbicides are adequately trained in occupational health and safety aspects and actually take the necessary safeguards. The Government also needs to ensure that herbicides are used only where absolutely necessary and that account is taken of the potential environmental impacts on other plant and animal species.

We note that the strategy does not propose taking a strong legislative approach to weed control. Much of the discussion of legislative options for dealing with weed control that was contained in the draft weeds strategy has been dropped from the final version. We agree that cooperation from the public needs to be gained for implementing many elements of the strategy, but there also needs to be strong legislative backup in case that public cooperation is not obtained. This aspect will no doubt be debated further when the Assembly deals with the Government's proposed amendments to the Land Act relating to pest animals and plants.

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