NSW Farmers welcomed the release of the NSW Natural Resources Commission’s (NRC) draft report on weed management this week.
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It’s important this issue is addressed in a comprehensive manner because weeds have a significant impact on the environment and a farmer’s bottom line.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates weeds cost NSW agricultural businesses about $475 million a year and noxious weeds in particular are one of the most important natural resource issues not yet effectively addressed in the State.
NSW Farmers has long called for a co-ordinated approach to weed management, which is consistent across public and private land tenures.
Key is a government commitment to extra funding to enable local control authorities and other organisations to undertake weed control along roads, travelling stock routes, national parks and other public lands.
We are pleased almost all of our recommendations outlined in a submission have been adopted in the commission’s draft report.
They included alignment of regional targets, moving to a tenure neutral approach where all land managers have equivalent obligations and improved national alignment of weed declarations.
The commission has determined the newly formed Local Land Services was best positioned to ensure development of a regional strategic plan for weed management.
This means where local authorities are executing weed management effectively, they will continue to do so and areas where weed management is lacking will be strengthened in line with regional targets.
The commission’s draft paper confirmed what many farmers have long known – the efficacy of weed management arrangements in NSW are inconsistent across the State.
However, this is not the end of the road.
Implementation will be key.
This review and recommendations will serve to augment the existing good work being undertaken by the Weeds Action Plan.
We look forward to providing further feedback on this draft paper, but at the end of the day it means little if recommendations made in the final report are not implemented.
The need for effective and consistent effective weed control across the landscape cannot be emphasized enough.
We urge the government and relevant ministers to make sure this review doesn’t end up on a shelf.
