Plant biosecurity

The mission of Western Australia's plant biosecurity programs is to safeguard plant resources from exotic and established pests and diseases. The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) has adopted a 'biosecurity continuum' approach with pre-border, border and post-border biosecurity strategies as integral components of this approach.

The aim of DAFWA’s approach is to identify key threats to productivity, sustainability and market access and outline preventive and response strategies.

The management of biological risks to market access, product safety, quality, productivity and sustainability is a shared responsibility and can be managed together and cost-effectively by means of partnerships between industry, community and government.

DAFWA’s biosecurity policies and operations are targeted to facilitate safe trade, tourism and commodity movement whilst reducing exposure of the State's plant resources to exotic biological risks.

Articles

  • Psa (Pseudomonas syringae pv.

  • DDLS Seed Testing and Certification is responsible for administering the industry seed potato production schemes in Western Australia.

  • Banana freckle was detected in Dwarf Cavendish banana fruit in the Northern Territory in May 2022. The Northern Territory Government is responding to this new detection.

  • Myrtle rust is a serious disease that infects and kills many plants belonging to the Myrtaceae family including eucalypts, bottlebrushes, paperbarks and peppermint trees.

  • Papaya sticky disease is absent from Western Australia. It has recently been reported from the Northern Territory, after being detected in Queensland in 2014.

  • Blueberry rust is a fungal disease that affects blueberries and some relatives in the Ericaceae plant family. The disease was detected in Western Australia in April 2022.

  • Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) is a declared pest in Western Australia. It can significantly reduce crop yields in potatoes and tomatoes.

  • Onion smut (Urocystis cepulae) is a disease of onions. This disease is absent from Western Australia.

  • Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a very damaging virus disease of tomato crops in tropical and warm temperate regions of the world, causing losses of up to 100%.

  • Panama disease Tropical Race 4 (TR4) is considered one of the most destructive diseases of banana plants worldwide.

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