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This landmark 2007 report, introduced flora of Australia and its weed status by R.P. Randell lists 29,430 plant species and identifies the 2,739 naturalised species of the 26,242 introduced plant species in Australia, and 5,907 species present in Australia which have weed histories elsewhere in the world but no current history as a weed in Australia. It is these plants that are most likely to become weeds in Australia, given the right opportunities.

National coordination of weeds data is a priority for all levels of government in Australia and is established in national policy documents such as the Australian Weeds Strategy (AWS) 2017–2027, the Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity (IGAB), and the national strategies for Weeds of National Significance (WoNS). Collaboration through data sharing can assist weed managers to more effectively allocate resources, assess effectiveness of investments, and improve management outcomes.
The objective of the national weeds data collection survey was to understand the status of weeds data collection and sharing between stakeholders, and identify opportunities for data coordination at a national level.
Authors: Katherina Ng, Bo Raphael, Luke Maloney, Jessica Evans and Sandra Parsons. Research by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences. Research report 21.05 April 2021

This manual provides key steps for undertaking weed biocontrol for more than 50 weeds species in south-east Australia. It provides information on:
– weeds and their background
– how to identify biocontrol agents (the weed’s natural enemies) and their potential impact on the weed
– how to source biocontrol agents
– how to redistribute these agents
– how to monitor establishment and dispersal of such agents.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) legislates a review of the state of the Australian environment every 5 years. Australia state of the environment 2021 (SoE 2021) assesses the changing condition of our natural environment across 12 themes: air quality, Antarctica, biodiversity, climate, coasts, extreme events, heritage, Indigenous, inland water, land, marine and urban.

The SoE is designed to:

– help shape strategy, policy and action
– influence behaviours of individuals, communities and businesses
– assist in assessing our actions as stewards of the Australian environment.

The 2021 report combines scientific, traditional and local knowledge to provide a rigorous, peer‑reviewed assessment of every aspect of the environment.

The Commonwealth of Australia owns the copyright in all material produced by the Department. Australia State of the Environment 2021 is licenced by the Commonwealth of Australia for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the logo of the agency responsible for publishing the report and some content supplied by third parties. For licence conditions see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This website is a decision-support tool that provides users with the ability to interrogate individual profiles for over 700 non-native naturalised and invasive plant species within Australia and assess weed threats for regions of interest under current and predicted future climates.

The integration of modelling, spatial analysis and species’ trait information provides a comprehensive assessment and information source for these plant species under both current and future climates.

This project aimed to develop biocontrol agents for the control of ten weeds of importance in Australia. Five of these weeds are Weeds of National Significance (WoNS): cabomba, Sagittaria, prickly acacia, silverleaf nightshade and African boxthorn. Fleabane and sowthistle have become major weeds of cropping land while mother-of-millions and giant rat’s tail grass impact on grazing land. The final weed, ox-eye daisy is becoming a serious environmental weed in crown land.

The Environment and Invasives Committee’s Weeds Working Group commissioned this report in 2020 to analyse the WoNS initiative and develop a draft a framework to underpin the future of national established weed management.

This “Early invader manual: managing early invader environmental weeds in Victoria” (manual) is a summary of a set of six detailed guides about early invader management. They can help improve decision making about what are the highest risk weeds, how to search for and identify them, determine where the infestation boundaries are, work out which management approach is best and where feasible, respond with local eradication.

This economic assessment by Ross McLeod in 2018 estimates weeds to impose an overall average cost of nearly $5 billion across Australia. Overall costs have increased by more than 20% over the 14 years since the Sinden et al (2004) study.

​​​​​The current Australian Weeds Strategy (2017-2027) provides a national framework for addressing weed issues whilst maintaining the profitability and sustainability of Australia’s primary industries and the reducing the impact of weeds on the environment.

This field manual by McNaught, I, Thackway R, Brown L, and Parson M is aimed primarily at land managers, management agencies and research organisations to assist in surveying and mapping nationally significant weeds

The primary aim of this technical bulletin by By J.E. Ireson, J.T. Davies, D.A. Friend, R.J. Holloway, W.S. Chatterton, E.I. Van Putten and R.E.C. McFadyen was to provide a revised assessment of the cost of weeds to Tasmanian pastures and field crops as well as identifying the weeds that are having the most significant impact on Tasmanian agriculture. It also reviews the current status of all weed biological control programs that have been conducted in Tasmania against some of the major weeds and provides a case study of the successful biological control program on ragwort. The document should serve as a useful reference for those involved in weed control both within the state and nationally.

The Australian Weeds Strategy (2007-2017) provided a framework to establish consistent guidance for all parties, and identifies priorities for weed management across the nation with the aim of minimising the impact of weeds on Australia’s environmental, economic and social assets.

This report by AR Page and KL Lacey (AECgroup) examines the return on investment of the Australian weed biological control (biocontrol) effort.

This report by by Aaron Coutts-Smith and Paul Downey (NSW Pest Management Unit, Parks and Wildlife Division Department of Environment and Conservation) looks at the biodiversity impacts of weeds on the natural environment.

This report by by Randall Jones, Garry Griffith and David Vere (NSW DPI) evaluates the economic return on benefit based on seven years of CRC work.

Guides by Di Carpenter and Annabel Bowcher for the management of weeds in winter pulse crops, looking at the whole farm business and developing strategies involving a wide range of techniques. These publications provides an overview of all aspects of managing weeds during the pulse phase of crop rotation, including what pulse species to choose, weed impacts on pulse production, problem weed species by state, optimisation of the competitive ability of pulses against weed species and weed management using an integrated approach drawn from the suite of available chemical and cultural control methods.

Economic research undertaken by J Sinden, R Jones, S Hester, D Odom, C Kalisch, R James and O Cacho in 2003 established that the annual cost of weeds to Australian agriculture exceeds $3.5 billion, and may be as high as $4.5 billion per year.

This peer-reviewed publication edited by H Spafford Jacob and DT Briese contains the proceedings from the Weeds CRC Biological Control of Weeds Symposium held in Perth on September 13, 2002.

This report by the Centre for International Economics highlights the CRC’s achievements up until 2001 and the avenues through which the CRC’s work will reduce weed costs over the longer term.

This paper by by Randall Jones, Yohannes Alemseged, Richard Medd and David Vere reports on an analysis of the costs of weeds in Australian annual winter cropping systems.

This model’s development by David Vere, Garry Griffith and Randall Jones closely follows the structural modelling procedures previously adopted in NSW Agriculture and represents an aggregation of that research into a single entity.

The aim of this report by S Csurhes and R Edwards was to list and describe non-indigenous terrestrial and aquatic plant species considered to have the following attributes – represent a threat to native terrestrial or aquatic plant communities, a localised distribution and vulnerable to eradication (including species that only exist as cultivated specimens).

This report by R.J. Adair & R.H.Groves is a review and development of a methodology.