Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said pest animals and weeds posed a significant threat to Australia’s primary production, environment and biodiversity.
“Pests and weeds are a huge and growing problem for Australia’s agriculture and environment,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Projects will reduce the overall burden of pests and weeds on-ground through activities such as co-ordinated control, destruction and removal, including trapping, baiting and culling along with biological control release.
“They will target nationally significant pest and weed species, such as feral deer, feral pigs, cats, foxes, rabbits, wild dogs and a range of invasive weeds across identified hot spots.
“I welcome the commitment from my state and territory colleagues to co-invest with us to address this significant issue.”
Nationally, the annual cost of established vertebrate pest animals is estimated to be $800 million and more than $4 billion for weeds in terms of production losses and control activities. The cost to the environment is difficult to calculate but is likely to be higher.
A 2019 ABARES survey found land managers spent an average of $8189 a year on pest animal management, up from $7304 in 2016.
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the funding would help better protect Australia’s unique environment from invasive plants and animals, as well as supporting the new Threatened Species Strategy.
“A reduction of pest animals and weeds will lead to more productive and profitable industries, and benefit native wildlife and the environment, including nature-based tourism industries and communities,” she said.
For more information, visit https://www.awe.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/pests-diseases-weeds/pest-animals-and-weeds