30 November – 1 December 2017
The Invasive Plants and Animals Committee (IPAC) met on 30 November – 1 December 2017 in Melbourne, Victoria.
A key consideration for the IPAC was the 2017 Priorities for Australia’s biosecurity system: An independent review of the capacity of the national biosecurity system and its underpinning intergovernmental agreement (the review) report that was released on 26 July 2017.
For any questions or suggestions, please email the IPAC secretariat at: IPA Agriculture.
The committee also:
- supported the nominations of common sowthistle, flaxleaf fleabane and tropical soda apple as targets for biological control.
- endorsed the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions’ (CISS) standard operating procedures for baiting wild dog and fox’s with para-aminopropiophenone (PAPP).
- endorsed the List of Threat Categories of Non-indigenous Vertebrates, which classifies terrestrial vertebrate animals into threat categories on the basis of their potential to establish and become pests in Australia, and the danger posed by an individual animal. It will be used by jurisdictions to ensure a nationally consistent and effective approach in applying policy and regulation to the import, movement and keeping of non-indigenous vertebrates.
- endorsed the National Policy Guidelines for the Translocation of Live Aquatic Animals, which offera consistent national framework for the preparation of new, or revision of existing, translocation policies.
- endorsed development of a national incursion management framework for Invasive Species (‘InvasivesPlan’).
- considered progress of carp and rabbit control efforts.
A workshop was also held to progress the decision of the NBC to establish a new committee with a greater environmental biosecurity focus, which will replace the IPAC in early 2018. This workshop looked at the terms of reference, structure, and membership of the new committee, which will be provided to NBC for consideration in February 2018. Consideration was given on how to best engage with the wide range of industry, environment and community stakeholders and the key priorities for this committee over the next five years.
The Invasive Plants and Animals Committee is a sectoral committee of the National Biosecurity Committee (NBC).
The committee provides advice to the NBC on weeds, vertebrate pest animals (including freshwater fish) and freshwater invertebrate pests.
For further information about the Invasive Plants and Animals Committee you can visit the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources website.