In general the government is commended for the development of the biosecurity strategy and the goal of bringing greater attention to environmental biosecurity. The strategy could be improved by adopting clear targets, adopting key recommendations in Stopping NSW’s Creeping Peril, allocating new resources, better utilising the community, advancing a proposal
A submission arguing that there needs to be a more business-like approach to invasive species threats – identification of long-term goals and targets, costed plans, a closing of major gaps in legislation and policy and proper involvement of the community sector.
An often fatal viral disease detected in domestic pigeons in Australia last year is here to stay and no one can tell what its impacts will be. Pigeon paramyxovirus has infected several species worldwide, and not just pigeons. Raptors, pheasants, swans, cockatoos and budgerigars have been among the infected (the
The Invasive Species Council deplores the Queensland Government’s decision to abandon the state’s eradication program for yellow crazy ants, one of the world’s worst invasive species. “This is incredibly short-sighted budget cutting,” the council’s president Andrew Cox said today. “For the sake of a million or so dollars, the Queensland
We tend to excuse the long-past decisions that left us with nightmare invaders like rabbits, foxes, lantana and cane toads – people didn’t know any better or other values dominated those times. How will future generations judge the recent decision of the Queensland Government to leave them the burden of
A paper prepared for the Biosecurity Advisory Council (reports to the federal minister for agriculture). This paper outlines the benefits and costs of community engagement in decision-making and policy-setting in environmental biosecurity, assesses the current state of engagement at the national level and makes recommendations for improvement.
In one of the great ecological ironies, the loss of predators can disadvantage their prey species. Top predators are ecosystem shapers, exerting control over smaller predators and large herbivores. Eliminate the top of the food chain and predators lower down may flourish to the greater detriment of prey species. This
The Australian Government intends to introduce new biosecurity laws to Parliament next month. Last week, the Invasive Species Council made a submission, endorsed by 18 other environment groups, on the draft laws. Here is a summary of our verdict on the draft Biosecurity Bill 2012. Reform is essential As replacement
As a replacement for the century-old Quarantine Act 1908, the Biosecurity Bill 2012 represents a rare opportunity to bolster Australia’s capacity to protect the environment from invasive species, a major cause of extinctions, declines and degradation. Download using the link below the 65-page submission prepared with 18 other environment groups, or download
The chance to comprehensively tackle one of the greatest threats to the environment alongside climate change could be squandered, is the verdict of the Invasive Species Council on one of Australia’s most important environmental reforms this decade, the Biosecurity Bill 2012. Open for public submissions until Wednesday, Australia’s draft biosecurity
Here is a media release from the Invasive Species Council and below is the abstract of the paper it refers to. Aid and development agencies are courting disaster in Africa by promoting Australian wattles, warns Invasive Species Council biologist Tim Low, whose paper reviewing the problem was published this week
Aid and development agencies are courting disaster in Africa by promoting Australian wattles, warns Invasive Species Council biologist Tim Low, whose paper reviewing the problem was published this week in Biological Invasions. “Aid agencies face pressure to provide quick solutions to long-term problems, so they recommend plants that thrive on
The Invasive Species Council and the Victorian National Parks Association have prepared a joint repsonse to the proposed Invasive Species Management Bill for Victoria. This Bill makes substantial changes to invasive animal and weed control legislation, which follows major reforms in this area across Australia. But while it will create
After vociferous community protest, the Federal Government recently banned the 142 metre Abel Tasman ‘supertrawler’ from fishing in Australian waters while it investigates the environmental impacts of taking 18,000 tonnes of small fish from waters around southern Australia. But there is potentially a much greater risk that hasn’t received any
While the NSW Game Council markets a phony version of feral animal control by claiming that every rabbit, fox or pig killed by a hunter is a conservation win, some shooters are genuine ‘voluntary conservation hunters’. The Invasive Species Council opposes the recent move by the NSW Government to allow
