Bunnings under fire for selling $5.50 item considered 'massive problem'

Nurseries around the country are selling plants the government has classified as invasive weeds, in what experts say is an "industry-wide problem".

Bunnings is among the long list of Aussie nurseries stocking plants and shrubs that agriculturalists say are causing "massive problems", with the retail giant stocking several species deemed "highly invasive".

Though it claims "we closely follow all relevant local biosecurity regulations", critics argue far more regulation is needed across the entire sector.

It's estimated that "escaped" garden plants that have spread from homes around the country cost the agriculture industry over $4.3 billion to manage each year, according to the Invasive Species Council.

These invasive species compete with native species for ground-cover space, and "when you have weeds that out-compete the native species", we lose the habitat and the food resources "that all of our other animals need to live on".

Some of the species of plants stocked at nurseries which could prove seriously harmful to the environment include the gazania, imported from South Africa and regarded as an environmental weed, due to its "extensive potential for further spread".

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

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Industry is expected to self-regulate

English ivy is also widely available for sale at Bunnings stores and other Aussie nurseries. It's also sold by the pot at Bunnings and has been branded "tenacious and invasive" and "quickly spread by birds". Elsewhere, online nurseries listed invasive weeds formosa lily, arum lily and cocos palm for sale.

Jennifer McQueen, director of communications at Greenlife Australia — the national peak body representing commercial growers of plants — said nurseries were regulating themselves by using the database Grow Me Instead, and argued that the industry did not need government regulation.

"Greenlife Industry Australia backs the current approach, which is nationally supported, evidence based, cost effective, transparent and collaborative," McQueen told the ABC.

But according to Invasive Species Council advocacy director Jack Gough, many aren't using the database properly. "It is an insult to all the landcare groups and bushcare groups and the work of local government to still have some of these species sold," Gough said.

"The peak industry body has clearly listed these plants as at high risk of becoming weeds if they get into our waterways or bushland, and yet they are still sold in nurseries or online either through ignorance or because the law allows it.

Government intervention could be on the way

"This isn't a Bunnings problem or an individual nursery or weedy plant species problem — it's an industry-wide problem. [The current system] depends on gardeners or individual nurseries to do the right thing.

"This means we are relying on everyday Australians to either have a botany degree or to pay close attention to the warnings in the fine print of plant labels to stop their gardens becoming a ticking time bomb. That's a system designed to fail."

A spokesperson for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the government, and all state and territory governments, had agreed to "collaboratively develop a national threat abatement plan to tackle escaped garden plants".

Bunnings weighs in

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Cam Rist, Bunnings Director of Merchandise said the retailer "closely follows all relevant local biosecurity regulations and the advice of regulators about the plants we sell"

"Like many nurseries and retailers, we sell a wide range of locally-sourced plants across our stores and we work hard to create an assortment that caters to customer preferences and demand," he told Yahoo.

Plants we sold across Bunnings stores differ depending on where they are sold and their declaration status. Customers are advised to read the information on the plant label before deciding whether it’s right for them and their garden.

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