Question On Notice No. 3168 asked in the Legislative Council on 9 September 2020 by Hon Dr Steve Thomas
Question Directed to the: Minister for Agriculture and Food
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Question
I refer to the Auditor General's follow-up report entitled Managing the Impact of Plant and Animal Pests: Follow-Up, of 31 August 2020, which covered the adequacy of the response to their report of 2013, and I ask, given that the report says that the Government's plan for the collaborative management of pests has not been fully implemented, and only "13 of its 38 actions have been completed", please list the 25 actions that have not been completed and for each action outline why it has not been completed and when it is expected to be completed?
Answered on 13 October 2020
The Auditor General’s (AG) report does not detail which actions from the Western Australian (WA) Invasive Species Plan 2015-2019 the Auditor General considers complete or otherwise.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development considers 24 of the 38 actions have either been completed or significant progress has been made towards completion. I table the paper which outlines the actions progress.
Since 2013, the approach to the long-term management of widespread and established pests across the country has improved in keeping with current national and international thinking, with greater focus on shared responsibility between industry, governments, and the community. A community coordinated approach recognises that better outcomes are achieved when local communities are empowered to lead on local priorities.
Widespread and established pest are not eradicable, but their impacts can be managed. Government supports landholders to control and manage these pests on their land, whilst prioritising prevention and eradication activities for pests that are not established - providing the best return on investment for government expenditure and the best public good.
Given this, some actions from the WA Invasive Species Plan 2015-2019 no longer have the same priority or need. Some actions will not be completed because they have been replaced; for example, rather than creating response plans for each individual pest species, the focus is now on creating template response plans for priority species based on categories of pest. This is a far more efficient use of resources, as well as recognising that priority pest lists change over time, and significant pests can arrive that are not identified on the priority species list.
The WA Invasive Species Plan is scheduled for review, and this will occur as part of responding to the recommendations of the Auditor General’s report. The new plan will be finalised by the end of 2021.