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Plant Pests and Diseases
Plant pests, including plant pathogens that cause disease, threaten the profitability and sustainability of Australia's agricultural and forestry cropping industries. Of particular concern to Australia are emergency plant pests.
What is an emergency plant pest?
An emergency plant pest is a known exotic plant pest, a variant form of a plant pest already established in Australia, or an entirely new serious plant pest, all of which could have an adverse economic impact regionally and/or nationally if established in Australia.
An emergency plant pest may also be a plant pest that is being officially controlled in Australia but requiring a significant emergency response to ensure that there is not a large scale epidemic of regional or national significance.
Source: Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed
What's at risk?
Australia is fortunate to be free from many of the emergency plant pests found elsewhere around the world. The establishment of these pests in Australia could have adverse impacts on the country’s trade in plant products, crop productivity and quality, and livelihoods.
Protect Australia's plant industries
To safeguard our plant industries we must remain vigilant for these pests and report suspect detections immediately. This can activate responses to minimise the adverse impacts of emergency plant pests on our plant industries and the need for costly control and eradication programs.
Australia's plant industries and its service providers play a critical role in protecting the country from the impacts of emergency plant pests.
What you can do on your property to prevent plant pest and disease outbreaks.