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

  • Bacterial wilt of lucerne (Clavibacter insidiosus) is a disease that reduces the lifespan and productivity of lucerne stands. It also makes lucerne crops hard to establish.

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

  • Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum is a bacterial plant pathogen that is exotic to Australia. Currently five haplotypes have been described: haplotypes A and B from solanaceous crops suc

  • Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum is an exotic pest to Australia. It can affect both solanaceous and apiaceous crops.