Environment Matters Autumn/Winter 2024

A new plan for Biosecurity Ipswich’s new Biosecurity Plan has put local invasive species in the crosshairs.

IPSWICH HIT LIST These species are among those specifically included in the Ipswich Biosecurity Plan for their impact on the local environment and community.

WHAT’S A GENERAL BIOSECURITY OBLIGATION? Biosecurity is everyone’s responsibility. We all have a role in ensuring we protect our lifestyle, industries and environment from invasive plants and animals. The General Biosecurity Obligation (GBO) means that Queenslanders have the responsibility to manage biosecurity risks under their control and knowledge. Queensland’s biosecurity system relies on many stakeholders working together effectively to eradicate or reduce the impact of invasive plants and animals. The new plan is also responsive to priority areas in council’s Natural Environment Strategy, and considers waterways and wetlands, biodiversity and threatened species, Aboriginal cultural heritage and cultural landscape values, urban and rural biodiversity, and sustainable nature-based recreation. However local community feedback during consultation on Ipswich’s new Biosecurity Plan also highlighted species quickly becoming a biosecurity problem in Ipswich, which the community should be encouraged to take action to control, that are not listed by the State. Under the Biosecurity Act 2014 , every local government must have a plan for invasive biosecurity matter, and the State lists specific invasive plant and animal species as restricted or prohibited.

Common myna (Acridotheres tristis) : First released in the 1860s to control garden pests, the birds are now abundant and aggressively compete with native birds and animals for food and nesting.

Cocos palm (Syagrus romanzofficiana) : This fast-

growing, long-lived palm is grown in many Queensland gardens, but its seed is spread by bats and it invades native forest.

Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) : Planted as a fodder tree, but if not heavily grazed or controlled it can spread rapidly and form impenetrable thickets excluding all other plants.

Glycine vine (Neonotonia wightii) : An environmental weed that can infest extensive areas and smother vegetation, preventing the regeneration of native species.

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