New era for invasive pest management

8 February 2021

New era for invasive pest management

Southern Downs Regional Council resolved to not reinstate the Invasive Pest Control Scheme (IPCS) at last week’s Ordinary Meeting following the COVID-19 moratorium imposed in 2020-21 and a comprehensive review of the scheme. 

Under the Biosecurity Act 2014, Council is obliged to manage invasive pests and have compliance processes in place. Moving forward, Council’s Pest Management Advisory Committee will consider alternative approaches to continuing the management of invasive pests across the region. 

The outgoing IPCS charged a special rate, coupled with an up-front concession which was retained if landholders’ pest management obligations were met.

Following the COVID-19 moratorium on the IPCS levy in May 2020, Council conducted a survey, directly inviting 5,288 landholders to provide feedback. The survey was met with a 22% uptake.

Any revised model will take into account landholder feedback from this survey to ensure an efficient and effective approach to managing the region’s invasive pests to reduce the significant impacts on the region’s agricultural productivity and the environment.

The survey results revealed that 58% of respondents believed the IPCS had reduced the impacts of invasive pests on the productivity, biodiversity and amenity on the Southern Downs.  The survey also unearthed a number of common themes on how the IPCS could be improved. The key themes for improvement included an incentive, increasing the level of face-to-face interaction between Council officers and landholders, and reducing the reliance on paperwork.