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.

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 nominations will be 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 will review the assessments and make the final decision on which weeds progress to detailed assessment.

The project team will notify relevant lead organisations of the outcomes and provide reasons for the decision. The preliminary assessment outcome of all nominations will be published on Weeds Australia.

Detailed assessment:

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

The detailed assessment will determine those weeds that are recommended for national coordinated action.

The NEWP Steering Group will review the assessments and associated report, and through the Weeds Working Group will then recommend the nationally significant weeds for consideration as priorities under NEWP.

Review and approval| Step 4

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

Following agreement, this list with the assessment report will be published on Weeds Australia.

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

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)