National Established Weed Priorities (NEWP)

NEWP is a vital mechanism for implementing the Australian Weeds Strategy 2017-2027 and achieving action under the National Framework for the Management of Established Pests and Diseases of National Significance.

Nationally significant weed nomination process

Closed

Expression of Interest (EOI) | Step 1 | Closed

Thank you to those organisations that submitted an EOI to nominate a nationally significant weed.

Click here to access the list of weed species deemed eligible to proceed to Step 2 Nomination.

Nomination | Step 2 | Closed

Thank you to those organisations that submitted a nomination for a nationally significant weed.

Nominations closed AEDT 9:00pm 12 January 2025.

Nominations were received from a diverse range of organisations across a range of sectors. The table below provides a breakdown of the type and number of unique organisations involved in nominations as the lead, group member or providing a letter of support. While the number of nominations (35) received was lower than the number of EOIs submitted (184), this was expected given the workload involved in preparing a nomination in comparison to the simple EOI requirements, and in the context of seeking to determine approximately 8 new national established weed priorities.

Assessment | Step 3 | Underway

The assessment process is described in the Guide to nominating a nationally significant weed.

The assessment process consists of a preliminary and detailed assessment.

Preliminary assessment:

All 35 nominations received (covering 50 species) have been assessed against the preliminary assessment criteria to determine those that meet the criteria and present the highest merit to proceed to detailed assessment.

The NEWP Steering Group and Weeds Working Group reviewed the assessments and made the final decision on which weeds progress to detailed assessment.

The project team have notified relevant lead organisations of the outcomes of the preliminary assessment of their nominations and provided reasoning where a nomination is not proceeding to detailed assessment.

29 nominations (covering 41 species and 5 groups of weeds) are proceeding to detailed assessment. These nominations provide a cross-section of high impact weeds and include agricultural and environmental weeds from all jurisdictions and across the northern tropical, southern temperate and eastern and western regions of Australia.

Some species proceeding to detailed assessment have benefits, for example as pasture grasses.

A plant is considered a weed if it is not valued where it is growing and requires some form of action to reduce its negative effects. Thus, a pasture grass providing benefits as feed for livestock is not considered a weed. However, the same plant species in a national park can be considered a weed (not valued) where it outcompetes native plants and requires management.

It is appropriate that species that have benefits and negative effects are eligible for consideration within the process, to assess harmful impacts and consider any actions that could improve management. This is consistent with principles underpinning weed management in Australia described in the Australian Weed Strategy 2017-2027.

Click here to access the list of nominations proceeding to detailed assessment and those not proceeding beyond the preliminary assessment.

Detailed assessment:

The detailed assessment process has three main elements: national significant impacts, feasibility of management and benefits from national coordination.

These three criteria combine to determine those weeds that are recommended for national coordinated action, whereby:
 1) there is economic, social, cultural and/or environmental benefit in taking action (i.e. nationally significant impacts avoided or reduced)
 2) the proposed management approach is technically feasible and practical
 3) there is a clear benefit from, or requirement for, a nationally coordinated action or approach.

The detailed assessment process considers the benefits of a species, as described in the Guide to nominating a nationally significant weed. This includes considerations about possible strategies to minimise negative impacts of a species while retaining its beneficial uses.

The NEWP Steering Group will review the assessments and associated report, and through the Weeds Working Group will then make recommendations to decision makers.

Review and approval| Step 4

The assessment report will be considered by the National Biosecurity Committee, through the Environment and Invasives Committee (EIC), to agree the new national established weed priorities.

Following agreement, the assessment report will be published on Weeds Australia. The EIC is aiming to publish new national established weed priorities by late 2025.

For any questions, email weedpriorities@aff.gov.au

What happens after new national established weed priorities are published?

Further steps are still to be considered by governments. This includes consideration of making any of these priorities new Weeds of National Significance (WoNS).

Government and non-government stakeholders will be asked to consider co-investment in agreed priorities to progress recommended actions. Should investment be secured for one or more priorities, the first step is engagement with stakeholders to co-develop a national action plan.

Following consideration on the level of support and scale of investment, the NEWP Steering Group will request decision makers to consider whether weeds on the priority list are identified by Australian governments as a WoNS or a discrete management action under NEWP.

The WoNS label has no regulatory basis and does not create landholder management obligations or authorise new biocontrol agents or herbicides. Rather, it raises the profile of the negative impact occurring from an invasive plant species and aims to harness resources to support improved management.

States and territories determine the biosecurity requirements for weeds in their jurisdictions, which landholders are required to comply with. Potential regulatory mechanisms for any new priorities will be considered by individual states and territories, based on risk and following their regulatory engagement processes. Unlike the existing WoNS, states and territories may choose not to introduce or amend regulation in response to new WoNS.

A weed species must be endorsed as a candidate target for biological control by the EIC through the current procedure before permission is sought to release a biological control agent for that species (EIC 2019). The Protocol for Biological Control Agents (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 2022) provides a national standard for the assessment and introduction of exotic biocontrol agents into Australia under the Biosecurity Act 2015 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (AVPMA) evaluates, registers and regulates agricultural and veterinary chemicals in Australia. Before a new agricultural or veterinary chemical product can be legally supplied, sold, or used in Australia it must be registered by the APVMA. Further details here.

About NEWP

The Environment and Invasives Committee’s Weeds Working Group (EIC WWG) commissioned a report in 2020 to analyse the Weeds of National Significance (WoNS) initiative and draft a framework to underpin the future of nationally-established weeds management.

The report ‘National Established Weed Priorities – Towards a National Framework’ proposed a draft framework for the nationally coordinated management of established weeds.

Wild Matters Pty Ltd subsequently developed the National Established Weed Priorities (NEWP) Framework and Implementation Plan, with extensive input and feedback from stakeholders, including through an industry and community Advisory Group.

NEWP retains the essence of the original WoNS initiative (through the WoNS component) but also moves beyond the single species approach to encompass other national established weed priorities including Weed Issues of National Significance (WINS) and a National Established Weeds Action List (NEWAL). This broadens the scope of the original initiative, addressing landscape-scale management issues for established weeds (WINS), and offering continued management of discrete national priority actions where required (NEWAL).

EIC endorsed the NEWP Framework and Implementation Plan in June 2023.

On 30 November 2023, the National Biosecurity Committee agreed to a phased approach to progress the NEWP implementation.

This phased approach initially focuses on determination of new national weed priorities.

Following determination of new national weed priorities, government and non-government stakeholders will consider investment. This will determine the scale of NEWP implementation.

NEWP Steering Group

Reflecting that NEWP is a collaborative initiative between government and non-government stakeholders, a NEWP Steering Group, consisting of representatives of all stakeholder sectors in weed management, will lead the overall implementation of NEWP.

The NEWP Steering Group provides strategic advice to the Environment and Invasives Committee (EIC) Weeds Working Group, which is accountable for this initiative to the Environment and Invasives Committee and the National Biosecurity Committee.

Further details are contained in the NEWP Terms of Reference.

The NEWP Steering Group will initially oversee the determination of new national weed priorities.

The members of the NEWP Steering Group are:

Industry & community

Weeds Working Group (WWG)