‘Invasive species’ are species which are not native to the area in question, and which pose a threat to local biodiversity. Invasive species introductions can be intentional or unintentional. Intentional introductions include for purposes such as ornamental or commercial value. Unintentional introductions can occur where a species has ‘hitchhiked’ in a trade commodity, in the ballast water of ships, or luggage of travellers. Species which pose a threat to local biodiversity can be those that prey directly on native species, or are able to out-compete them via a survival advantage. Other invasive species alter habitat composition or resource availability in a way that is detrimental to the survival of other species. Invasive species are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity.

Examples of invasive species in Victoria include the feral cat, introduced red fox, Sambar, feral honeybee, Argentine Ant, and blackberry plant. Exotic fish and marine organisms such as the North Pacific Sea Star can also be invasive species.

Invasive species can be controlled

• before they are introduced
• once they have been introduced but before they have become established; or
• after they have established

It is generally accepted that the most effective, cost-efficient way to regulate invasive species is to adopt preventative measures such as quarantine regulations which prevent the alien species from entering. This is usually done on a national level. After an alien species has been introduced, physical, mechanical or chemical controls must be employed to eradicate or contain the species, although regulations to prevent movement and prohibit possession may reduce the potential of the species to spread. State, territory and local regulations and policies can prohibit people from keeping invasive species on their property, trading, possessing, or improperly disposing of the species.

Below the various controls on invasive species applicable to Australia are outlined at the different jurisdictional levels.

Australia is party to the Biodiversity Convention which requires parties to prevent the introduction of, control and eradicate invasive species (art 8(h)). The obligation to protect against invasive species is echoed in specific international agreements such as the Bonn Convention relating to migratory species (art III(4)(c)), and the Convention on the Law of the Sea relating to marine vectors (art 196(1)). Plant and animal sanitary measures agreements are also relevant to the introduction of invasive species (SPS Agreement; International Plant Protection Convention). There is as yet no comprehensive instrument which deals with invasive species. Two conventions, the International Watercourses Convention and the Ballast Water Management Convention could potentially go a long way toward furthering the obligation to protect against invasive species, but neither have the international support required to come into force at this stage. The Ballast Water Management Convention details specific obligations for ships and marine transportation vectors that would limit the opportunity for invasive species to travel from one country to another through ballast water exchange (the principal vector for marine invasive species).

• For more information on invasive species and the Biodiversity Convention click here.
• To read about the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) and current news relating to international invasive species efforts click here.

The control of invasive species foreign to Australia (‘invasive alien species’) is regulated federally by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (“EPBC Act”)’s framework of ‘live import’ regulations, in conjunction with the Quarantine Act 1908 (Cth). Under the EPBC Act, a person cannot import a species if it is a ‘regulated live specimen’ (s 303EK) – a regulated live specimen means all live animals and plants not listed as unregulated (s 303EA). However there is an exemption in relation to ‘allowable regulated’ species, also listed, so long as the importer has a permit and complies with the requirements attached to the permit, for example, keeping the animal in a high security facility. The list can be found here (Part 1 species are unregulated species; Part 2 are allowable regulated). Non listed species can only be imported if a special permit has been granted.

The Quarantine Act allows for the examination, seizure and destruction of species in order to control the establishment and spread of pests (s 4). The Quarantine Act is administered by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service(AQIS).

The EPBC Act also covers specific invasive species under its list of Key Threatening Processes (“KTPs”).

KTPs can have corresponding Threat Abatement Plans (“TAPs”), which aim to minimise the threat posed by the KTP. Threat abatement projects relating to invasive species can be viewed here. KTPs marked * in the box above have a current approved TAP.

Various sporadic, area-specific efforts also exist at the national level, such as:

• Weeds Lists
• The Intergovernmental Agreement on Marine Pests
• The National System for the Prevention and Management of Marine Pest Incursions
• The Australian Pest Animal Strategy
• The Australian Weed Strategy
• The Weed Incursion Response Plan
• The Australian Weed Response Plan
• The National Weed Management Toolkit
• The National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program
• The National Electric Ant Eradication Program
• The Siam Weed Eradication Program

A useful list of resources can be found here (scroll down to 'Invasive Species').

In September 2008, the Beale Review called for a new Biosecurity Act to replace the Quarantine Act which would coordinate but separate Commonwealth and state legislative powers in relation to invasive species and their methods of entry into Australia. For example, biofouling (a pathway for the introduction of foreign species) would be regulated by the Commonwealth regarding international vessels, and states regarding domestic vessels. Nonetheless, the federal government’s present role in managing the invasive species problem is largely restricted to policy coordination and funding (Godden, Nelson and Peel 2006).

Once invasive species are in the country, they are regulated by a suite of state laws and policies. State legislation may target invasive species directly, or may indirectly regulate the problem via legislation targeting different matters entirely. There is no one comprehensive law on invasive species in Victoria. Instead, a complex mix of regulation is supplemented by more recent developments being in the nature of policy pronouncements.

Victoria’s approach essentially treats species as not harmful until proven otherwise. This is a contrast to the federal approach which is to limit the import of species unless declared not harmful. Thus, the Victorian approach does not embody notions of precaution in the same way that the Commonwealth approach does, and species that fall within a gap in the legislation or have not yet been recognised as harmful may have the chance to establish as an invasive species unabated.

Biosecuirty policy and management is handled by Biosecurity Victoria, a division of the Department of Primary Industries (“DPI”), in consultation with the Department of Sustainability and Environment (“DSE”). In May 2009, a Biosecurity Strategy for Victoria was released which identifies the need for a ‘whole-of-community’ approach which integrates all sectors, including ensuring that legislation is consistent and complimentary. An Implementation Plan is due to be developed by July 2010.

• Victorian invasive species initiatives conducted by the DSE can be found here.
• Specific information on plant diseases and pests can be found here and plant standards here.

In a similar vein to the federal EPBC-listing of KTPs, Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic) (“FFG Act”) provides for the listing of Potentially Threatening Processes (“PTPs”) which includes threats posed by specific introduced and invasive species.

Part 8 of the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994 (Vic) (“CaLP Act”) deals with noxious weeds and pest animals.

Declared noxious weeds

Invasive weeds which threaten primary production, Crown land, the environment, or community health can be declared under the CaLP Act (s 58). Weeds that fit this description can be declared to be ‘state prohibited’, ‘regionally prohibited’, ‘regionally controlled’ or ‘restricted’. These are termed ‘noxious weeds’. In practice, those that threaten production tend to be more commonly listed over those that threaten ecological systems (known as ‘environmental weeds’).

State prohibitions apply to the whole of Victoria. Only weeds which are not already in Victoria, or which can be eradicated, can be declared under this category. Regional prohibitions and controls can apply to specific parts of the state. A weed can be declared as prohibited in a region if it is not already widely distributed in that region, but there is a chance of spread, so long as there is a reasonable expectation that the weed can be eradicated. By contrast a weed can be declared as controlled if the same circumstances are met but instead of eradication, control measures are required to prevent spread. Restricted weeds carry an unacceptable risk of spreading within or outside of Victoria, if they were allowed to be sold or traded in Victoria.

Obligations on landowners

There are general duties on land owners under s 20 to take all reasonable steps to:

• eradicate regionally prohibited weeds; and
• prevent the growth and spread of regionally controlled weeds; and
• prevent the spread of, and as far as possible eradicate, established pest animals
• prevent the spread of regionally controlled weeds and established pest animals on a roadside adjoining their land (unless the roadside is Crown land)
  • a road is defined to include a public highway, street, lane, footway, square, court, alley or right of way, whether a thoroughfare or not and whether accessible to the public generally or not

Landowners can be served with directions telling them to prevent the growth or spread of a State prohibited weed. They may also be given a ‘directions notice’ regarding measures to be taken on their land in relation to controlling or eradicating a regionally prohibited or controlled weed. Specific measures and time frames may be set out with which landowners are expected to comply, and the landowner must report back with what measures have been taken and if no measures, then an explanation as to why. It is an offence not to comply with a directions notice, and providing false or misleading information in the response as to compliance is also subject to a penalty (s 84).

A person who owns or possesses grain, fodder, equipment, vehicles or animals deemed likely to spread noxious weeds can be served with directions restricting its movement. Penalties may be imposed for failure to comply with these directions (s 70).

There is also an obligation to ensure that reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that vehicles, such as those used for transporting fodder and livestock, and machinery and equipment used for building and maintaining roads and infrastructure, are free from any parts of a noxious weed that may grow, before they are moved onto a road (s 70A). An authorised officer has the power to stop and search a vehicle without a warrant if he or she believes the above duty has not been complied with, and may either direct the vehicle operator to remove the noxious weed, or do so him or herself (s 83E).

General prohibitions relating to noxious weeds

The following activities are banned without a permit in relation to noxious weeds as well as any part of a noxious weed capable of growing (including seeds):

• wilfully bringing the weed into Victoria
• buying, selling, displaying, transporting, planting or propagating the weed
• removing or selling soil, sand, stone, gravel, fodder or grain likely to contain the weed
• sell or hire a substance or machinery to be used for primary production which contains the weed
• deposit the weed on land

A person who violates one of these prohibitions may be ordered to remove the weed from infested goods (animals, soil, fodder, vehicles, etc), or destroy them, within a specified time, and goods may be required to be impounded at the person’s own expense until the weed is removed.

A person must also not sell an animal carrying the seeds of the weed, unless it is being sold directly to a meat processes facility.

Declared pest animals

As with weeds, pest animals which threaten primary production, Crown land, the environment, or community health can be declared under the CaLP Act (s 58). Animals that fit this definition can be declared to be ‘prohibited’, ‘controlled’, ‘regulated’ or ‘established’.

Prohibited animals can also be listed on the basis that the threat they pose is unknown, so long as the Minister is satisfied that the animal’s importation, keeping or sale should be banned. Controlled animals are those which the Minister decides should be kept in an approved high security facility, whereas regulated animals are those which the Minister decides should be kept in approved collections or premises. An animal is not able to be regulated as a prohibited, regulated or controlled pest animal if it existed in the wild before European settlement. Eradicated animals are those which are already established in the wild, which the Minister decides should be eradicated or controlled, or whose spread should be prevented.

Obligations on landowners

Directions notices may also be given to landowners in relation to measures that need to be taken on their land to control or eradicate an established pest animal. Specific measures and time frames may be set out with which landowners are expected to comply, and the landowner must report back with what measures have been taken and if no measures, then an explanation as to why. It is an offence not to comply with a directions notice, and providing false or misleading information in the response as to compliance is also subject to a penalty (s 84).

General prohibitions relating to pest animals

Prohibited, controlled and regulated pest animals must not be brought into Victoria, kept or sold without a permit, and no declared pest animal can be released without a permit.

Permits can be obtained by successful application, and conditions may be attached to a permit such as that the animal must be sterilised or tagged.

Fish and invertebrates cannot be declared under the CaLP Act. Domestic pets and farm animals in relation to which there is no public interest in protecting will not be listed (s 59).

The Secretary of the CaLP Act (the Department Head of the DSE) has a duty to take all reasonable steps to eradicate State prohibited weeds from all land in the State, which obviously includes Crown land. The Secretary must also take all reasonable steps to eradicate regionally prohibited weeds on roadsides not held under a lease or license, and not in relation to freeways and arterial roads.

The DSE’s Bush Guardians initiative is one way in which weeds and pests on crown land are eradicated, using the help of volunteers.

Noxious aquatic species are regulated under Part 5, Division 2 of the Fisheries Act 1995 (Vic). Declared noxious aquatic species cannot be brought into Victoria, kept, possessed, sold, transported or released into protected waters without a permit (s 76). Permits are available for scientific, research, aquaculture or fisheries management purposes if certain conditions are met (s 81). An aquatic species could include a plant.

• Invertebrates may be regulated generally under specific statutes (such as the Plant Health and Plant Products Act 1995 which regulates plant pests), or reactively via species-specific state policies.
• The Victorian Biological Control Act 1986 regulates the release of an agent species to control the establishment or spread of a target invasive species. There are also other statutes which deal with control measures in specific scenarios such as the Forests Act 1958 (s 100 gives power to make regulations for the eradication of tree pests).

Godden, Lee, Nelson, Rebecca and Peel, Jacqueline, ‘Controlling Invasive Species: Managing Risks to Australia’s Agricultural Sustainability and Biodiversity Protection’ (2006) 13 Australian Journal of Environmental Management 166

Pest Plants and Animals Initiatives Programs (DSE)

Plant Diseases & Pests (DPI)

Invasive Species (DEWHA)

For useful scientific information on invasive species, see the following texts:

• Mooney, Harold et al (eds), Invasive Alien Species – A New Synthesis (2005)

• Nentwig, Wolfgang (ed), Biological Invasions (2007)

• Lockwood, Julie, Hoopes, Martha and Marchetti, Michael, Invasion Ecology (2007)

• Sandlund, Odd, Schei, Peter and Viken, Åslaug (eds), Invasive Species and Biodiversity Management (1999)