Alarm sounded over toxic plant assisting in $4.3 billion issue: 'Ticking time bomb'

The Invasive Species Council is renewing its plea to the federal government to "deliver on its promise for a national plan" to address escaped weedy garden plants, which it said costs the Australian agriculture industry over $4.3 billion to manage per year.

The Council's Campaign Coordinator and bush regenerator Kathleen Herbert told Yahoo News Australia that as it stands, self-regulation within the industry is "just not working" — meaning government intervention is "the only way to solve this problem".

Herbert said in particular, hundreds of Australian nurseries — including hardware heavyweight Bunnings — still stock plants and seedlings that have been deemed highly invasive and harmful to our natural environment.

But, they are doing so entirely in accordance with the law, which is something she hopes to change.

"Everyday Australians can't be expected to know that they're buy a ticking time bomb for bushlands when they go to their local nursery," Herbert told Yahoo. "They shouldn't need a botany degree to know what safe and unsafe plants are."

Push to protect Australia's native ecosystems from disruptive introduced species

According to the Council, the issue isn't a Bunnings problem or an individual nursery or even a weedy plant species problem — it's a national one.

"It's not the fault of well-meaning Australians either — it's an industry wide problem that requires government regulation," Herbert said.

English ivy, African olive, seaside daisy, agapanthus and gazania are just some of these invasive species being stocked at nurseries, with seeds for sale for as little as a few dollars in many cases.

"The Minister for Environment, Tanya Plibersek, has shown great leadership by committing to developing a threat abatement plan around escaped garden plants. We welcome this move, but they need to make sure that they follow through with strong action and do not bow down to the industry," Herbert said.

"Weedy plants like this choke and suffocate the bushland and waterways they can smother native plants and just explode, taking over the landscape."

At Bunnings stores a packet of gazania flower seeds sells for $5.50.

Earlier this month, Yahoo News Australia reported on an Australian couple's decade-long battle to eradicate swarms of arum lilies that infested their 100-acre property.

Western Australian residents Rod and Gaynor Sherwood, from Hamelin Bay in the state's southwest, embarked on a mission to eliminate arum lilies from their sprawling acreage, teaming up with Nature Conservation Margaret River Region to remove all traces of toxic species from their coastal home.

It's a feat that eventually took 10 years. The couple now join more than 2,100 landholders across the region taking part in the "Arum Lily Blitz".

Arum lily seeds are widely sold online in Australia, despite the threat, and Herbert said the WA couple's battle is far from unusual. "That is a common scenario. Weed management involves a long-term plan," she said.

"I work in a site that's a critically endangered plant community — the Cumberland Plain Woodlands — and there is a lot of hard work and money behind removing African olive from that community, and African olive is being sold in nurseries.

"It's just an absolute money pit to have people removing these weeds, and then have a constant supply of them coming from nurseries."

Why do we need a plan for escaped weedy garden plants?

Herbert said there are "thousands of safe, native plants available" which will "still allow people to have beautiful, diverse gardens and will still allow the industry to prosper", while protecting the bush.

Particularly damaging to the Australian landscape because they disrupt native ecosystems, weeds threaten biodiversity, and impose significant economic and environmental costs.

They often outcompete native species for resources such as sunlight, water, and soil nutrients, leading to the decline or extinction of native flora. As a result, the animals that rely on native plants for food and habitat are also affected, causing a cascading impact on the entire ecosystem.

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Invasive plants often spread rapidly due to their ability to adapt to various conditions and a lack of natural predators or diseases to control their growth in Australia’s unique environment.

Economically, invasive plants cause significant damage to agriculture by reducing crop yields, contaminating pastures, and increasing the costs of weed management.

They also pose a threat to tourism and recreation by degrading natural landscapes. Efforts to control and manage invasive plants require substantial resources and ongoing vigilance, further emphasising the importance of preventing their spread.

Speaking to Yahoo, a Bunnings spokesperson said the retailer sells a range of locally-sourced plants across stores and closely follows relevant local biosecurity regulations and the advice of regulators.

The plants it sells differ depending on where they are sold and their local declaration status, they said.

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