Biosecurity Surveillance Program 2027-2031

Jessica Phillips31:10

Else like to speak to question in front of us would you like to close no thank you um all those in favour thank you and that's good you I'll stay for this okay and then we are moving on to item 7.2.2 uh which is the Biosecurity Surveillance Program 2027-2031 that's thank Director Rawlings. Thank you. Go.

I can introduce thanks very much Chair and good morning Councillors we've got the biosecurity surveillance program 2027-2031 in front of Council this morning um under the biosecurity act this enables us to manage biosecurity risks associated with invasive plants and animals across Noosa Shire local government area in summary the surveillance program enables Council's authorised officers to enter onto private land once certain notification protocols have been met to inspect for threatening biosecurity pest plants or animals on private property um pursuant section turn 235 of the biosecurity act the biosecurity program authorised must be authorised by a resolution of local government which is why it's brought to Council we've had two iterations in the biosecurity program which runs for four years so it's been running since 2016. Um we've had two branches of it um we're now just about to expire at the start of 2027 which is why we've got it um in front of Council again this morning the biosecurity surveillance program enables Council officers to um enter onto private land to inspect uh biosecurity matters but that's always a last um uh last case scenario or last tool that we use um in terms of being able to manage the biosecurity risk on private land. Always education and information and working with landholders before we actually go on to private land to be able to make those make the inspections. Typically the number entries that we've made on private land has been declining significantly over the last 10 years, which shows the success of the program. Early on in the program there was a lot of entries for fireweed as an example, which is now being restricted to just a handful of properties that were able to manage to maintain. Typically we'll do less than 10 over the last two years. I think in the last 18 months we've done 11 inspections on private land through a notification process and only one of those has been taken further for compliance action that we weren't able to work with the particular land holder. So we've got a resolution in front of Council which is a little bit detailed which our biosecurity program has broken up into quarters throughout each year and each quarter we'll inspect another section of the Shire so it's well known from local to where we're going to go and our Council officers will systematically work through those areas. Generally looking at a list of previous pieces as well as what they know to be emerging what they've been formed to be emerging as well those areas.

Yes, there's a clear process. Thank you, Councillor. There's a clear process for entering and inspecting properties as part of the biosecurity surveillance program and it must be followed in accordance with sections 259 and 270 of the biosecurity act and that applies to prior to notification six notification prior six weeks to the inspection if the and that's done through generally a letter in the letterbox if we don't have a response that'll be followed up with a personal communication so trying a telephone if call if the person if still or the land holder still or doesn't respond to that Council officers can go on and do an inspection once they've gone through the notification which is set out under those two sections in the act and if they do an inspection then they have to leave a notice of on the property that they've done and what they've done there's very strict protocols as to where they can and can't go once they're on property so the biosecurity act is details that Council officers cannot go into private residences without consent or without a warrant and so once a notification has been issued without those two things it's contained just private land.

Amelia Lorentson62:46

I'd like to move an amendment, please. Thank you. I think the last one, yeah. Thank you. B notes that one, the biosecurity surveillance program will be conducted in accordance with the entry and landholder protection provisions of the biosecurity act 2014 notification and entry procedures under section 259 and 270 and the right of landholders to seek an external review through QCAT under section 367 and of landholders to seek an external review two, notes that program outcomes including inspection activity, education and compliance actions will be reported to Council through the Environment Strategy annual report, with the final report provided to Council at the conclusion of the program in 2031. I'm happy to second the amendment, to thank you. Take the floor? Thank you. Over the weekend I put a series of questions to staff about the program and specifically around entry procedures when a landlord isn't present, how a landholder can dispute a finding or the cost of an enter and clear action, and how outcomes are going to be reported to Council and community over the life of the program. Firstly, I want to thank staff for the thorough and prompt verbal prompt written responses that I've received which has also been shared amongst all the Councillors. The amendment in front of us is simply a noting report and it just formalises and makes and public a record of that communication and also just lets the landholders who are inspected under this program over the next five years um allows them to see as uh what protections they have and how they can raise a concern. Again the amendments just simply notes and captures a lot of the discussion that we just had around the table and puts it on a formal record. Doesn't add cost change how staff operates. It puts what we already do, what the act already provides again into the public record and just for completeness and transparency and also. Allow anyone reading this report say two years down the track or three years down the track allows them, you know, the opportunity to understand where they can, where their safeguards are contained under the legislation.

Brian Stockwell58:10

With the two kings in Kin Kin as on the screen. I'll talk to the question sure yep so we don't often get the chance to have this conversation I want to stress how important this program is um it's important not simply because it's a statutory obligation but it's an investment in protecting our natural environment our ag land and our waterways, but it's also an investment in human health because we've heard mention of fireweed and that can have significant impacts on human health and we know that the feral deer problem has also caused significant traffic accidents and what we're looking at here is the fundamental principle of biosecurity is that when it comes to invasive species early detection is always almost always better than trying to deal with an established infestation so the longer an invasive species plant or animal becomes established widespread the greater the environmental damage. The greater cost and difficulty of controlling it so I reflect back to the 80s uh when the coastal lowlands had forests of what we now call restricted plants called it's called um I it is. I grounsell could laughing there and brownsville could up to three five metres tall and it was an absolute forest of it and to control that we had helicopters spraying chemicals that we don't sell anymore and that's because it got away in the 70s when the wollum scheme broke down through the oil prices and it no longer became profitable to put cows on the coastal plain and then it spread throughout a large area in Queensland so strategic surveillance is really important and the sort of district scale we're looking at it it's has a benefit over the just the complaint driven uh that it's actually trying to understand what's happening across the landscape because weeds don't stop at property boundaries um you know that's to identify new incursions and yeah we talked about the how fire ants are coming in just below us and so that needs need to really understand whether that's coming in through our southern boundaries and identify that potential source of population and it allows us to focus our limited resources to where we have the greatest benefit. It's not unusual for councils to take this approach you know we've at a report from the Sunshine Coast looked Council at to ourselves a report from and report shows that this surveillance program actually builds community awareness and changes behaviour and proactive surveillance found invasive weeds on a significant proportion of properties but they found that through their program that less than one percent of those required the Council to go onto the property. Now it demonstrates that these sort of programs can be the beginning of a conversation with landholders and a pathway to voluntary if you compare that say to the 80s where it wasn't unusual for a Council meeting to have two or three reports requiring asking Council to approve compulsory spraying, entering clear notices for that grounds each month. So in Noosa we've adopted that same approach here. We made 36 written requests for control. 10 biosecurity orders were subsequently issued, but only four cases that ultimately required Council to enter and clear the property. So the overwhelming emphasis in this program is about educating and helping landholders understand how to manage the problem. It's a sensible approach, and as I said, it just doesn't stop at the boundary. Our waterways, you know, one of the principal threats there is Cat's claw vine. If Cat's claw vine is allowed to go without control, it will wipe out the whole of the riparian zone, entering sun, increasing sediment erosion, you know, changing the ecology of the waterway beside it. And similarly with pests, they move through the landscape. So the other way that we can also use these surveillance is trying to not just look at the pest and problems we've got today, but they should also be finding the ones that might be a problem tomorrow when we're on there. We're not just looking for the ones that we know exist. We're looking for ones also that could become a problem so so this program is not asking Council to establish something new and expensive. It's part of an existing biosecurity operation. It's funded within our current budget and it's really an example of the old advice, how you use it, that prevention being better and cheaper and cure.