Under the Biosecurity Act 2014 there is an obligation for landowners to undertake certain activities in relation to pest plant and animal management.
The general biosecurity obligation means you need to ensure your activities do not spread a pest, disease or contaminant. Your responsibilities are:
• take all reasonable and practical steps to prevent or minimise each biosecurity risk;
• minimise the likelihood of the risk causing a biosecurity event and limit the consequences of such an event; and
• prevent or minimise the adverse effects the risk could have and refrain from doing anything that might exacerbate the adverse effects.
A biosecurity risk exists when you deal with any pest, disease or contaminant, or with something that could carry one of these. This includes, for example, moving diseased plant material, or associated soil or equipment, off the property. A biosecurity event is caused by a pest, disease or contaminant that is, or is likely to become, a significant problem for human health, social amenity, the economy or the environment.
A landowner must take reasonable steps to keep land free of prohibited matter and restricted matter (unless they hold a declared pest permit allowing the pests to be kept on the land), when it is:
• the owner’s land;
• unfenced land comprising part of a road or stock route that adjoins or is within the owner’s land;
• other land that is fenced in with the owner’s land;
• the bed, banks and water of a watercourse on the owner’s land; or
• the bed, banks and water to the centreline of a watercourse forming a boundary, or part of a boundary, of the owner’s land.
It is also illegal to supply a prohibited or restricted plant anywhere in Queensland without a permit issued by Biosecurity Queensland. Further, under this Act it is an offence to move or transport by a vehicle on a road, if it is known, or ought to be known, that it or its load is contaminated with a prohibited or restricted plant. Before moving a contaminated vehicle, either:
• the load must be contained so as to prevent the release of any contaminated/ reproductive material; or
• The vehicle must be cleaned so that all contaminated / reproductive material is removed.
• Wash-down facilities are available within the Shire to help remove weed seeds, soil and other foreign matter from vehicles and machines, and Council staff are available to conduct vehicle inspections.
Weed Hygiene
An invasive plant is a plant species that has or is likely to have an adverse impact on a biosecurity consideration because of the introduction, spread or increase in population size of the species in an area.
Invasive plants cost Queensland more than $600 million annually in lost production, land degradation and control costs. The spread of invasive plants threatens our agricultural industries, environment and social amenity.
One of the most common ways weeds are spread is via mobile machinery, equipment and vehicles These include cars, motorbikes, ATVs, tractors and implements (including slashers and cultivators), earthmoving machinery, harvesting equipment, trucks and boats. Landowners, contractors, drivers, etc may, through routine daily activities, inadvertently spread weeds into clean areas.
Vehicles or machinery operating or moving through weed infestations can become contaminated with invasive plant seeds or other reproductive material. These seeds or reproductive material can then travel long distances on the vehicle or machinery to new locations.
Reproductive material can include any part of a plant that is capable of growing to become a new plant (e.g. a bulb, rhizome, a stolon, a tuber, a stem, leaf cuttings or stem or root
fragments).
There is a real risk that these seeds or soil and mud containing the seeds will fall from contaminated or dirty machinery or vehicles in agricultural production or environmentally sensitive locations where an invasive plant infestation may become a long-term and costly problem for the land manager to remediate.
Clean down of vehicles and machinery reduces the risk of spreading invasive plants and soil borne pests and diseases.
These clean-down procedures have been developed to allow a consistent approach across Queensland to the cleaning of vehicles and machinery. These methods will help reduce the chance of spreading invasive plant seeds or other reproductive material when moving
vehicles or machinery. https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/58178/cleandown-procedures.pdf
The Biosecurity Act 2014 requires everyone to take all reasonable and practical steps to minimise the risks associated with invasive plants and animals under their control. This is called a general biosecurity obligation (GBO).
You can use the following strategies to prevent weeds from spreading on and from your property.
Preventing weed spread: advice for farmers | Business Queensland
For more information on managing invasive plants, animals and ants on your property, Visit Here
For further information contact Council’s Biosecurity Management team on 4099 9444.
