Authorities call on parents to check nappy pants for invasive pest
By Amelia Bernasconi and Michael Condon
Hundreds of cartons of nappy pants remain unaccounted for after one of the biggest threats to Australia's grain industry, khapra beetle larvae, was found in the imported products.
Khapra beetle, a threat to grains industry, discovered in imported nappy pants #biosecurity
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-17/khapra-beetle-found-in-imported-nappy-pants-threatens-grains/105782306
Major threat to Australian grains industry found in imported nappy pants
By Amelia Bernasconi and Lara Webster
Authorities are investigating how khapra beetle, the number-one-priority pest for the grains industry, entered Australia.
Behind these airlocked doors, Australian scientists study deadly diseases
By Olivia Willis and Nate Byrne
Step into one of Australia's few biosafety level 4 facilities, where scientists handle highly transmissible and potentially lethal pathogens such as Ebola and Hendra virus.
Mop-top virus found in potatoes bought from Tasmanian retail stores
Biosecurity Tasmania is working to trace the origins of the two potatoes, as potato mop-top virus continues to spread through Tasmania.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-12/mop-top-virus-found-in-supermarket-potatoes/105767970
Navya Nair was fined for not declaring flowers brought from India, spotlighting Australia's strict biosecurity laws. This case underscores the importance of understanding legal requirements when traveling. Are you aware of biosecurity rules in your country? Share your thoughts! #biosecurity #travel #law
Read more: https://steelefamlaw.com/ZkKr63
Visiting Indian actor fined for not declaring flowers from her dad
The incident involving Navya Nair highlights a common concern facing many visitors to Australia — what can be brought in without the risk of breaching strict biosecurity laws?
Animal control program in limbo amid WA firearms reforms
By Keane Bourke
A WA government department says the state’s new firearms laws are causing headaches for a program which responds to reports of injured and suffering animals on the roadside.
How a tiny beetle became one of Australia's biggest biosecurity threats
By Grace Burmas
It's barely the size of a sesame seed, but the shot hole borer has quickly devastated Western Australia's tree canopy. Experts are warning other states and territories to take action now to avoid a similar fate.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-10/shot-hole-borer-tree-threat-australia/105740250
An invasive giant oyster — the Suminoe (or Chinese river) oyster — is spreading fast in QLD waterways, reaching sexual maturity in just 2–3 months and growing up to 24 cm long. It outcompetes native species, fouls infrastructure, may carry disease, and is illegal to eat or use as bait in Australia. Authorities are urging the public to report sightings, and to thoroughly check, clean, and dry boats and gear before moving between water bodies.
#biosecurity #invasivespecies #queensland #oceans #rivers #australia
Real time AI monitoring of bee hives hope to stop destructive pest
By Tara de Landgrafft, Kate Forrester, and Madigan Landry
AI-enabled sentry hives will soon line the main route to Western Australia from South Australia, using cameras and 4G to detect varroa mite.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-09/bee-technology-helps-keep-wa-safe-from-varroa-mite/105738478
#Biosecurity #Beekeeping #PestControl #PestsDiseasesandControlMethods #Pests #TaradeLandgrafft #KateForrester # #MadiganLandry
Supersized sex-switching oyster invading Australian waters
By Jennifer Nichols
A problematic oyster species that can grow up to 24 centimetres long is spreading through Queensland, with the potential to invade much of the nation's coastline.
Uncertainty for SA communities after first varroa mite detection
By Elyse Armanini and Amelia Walters
Producers and beekeepers had been expecting the arrival of the parasite. Now they are bracing for impact.
Tomato growers back in business after catastrophic virus outbreak
By Selina Green and Cassandra Hough
After 12 months without income, three SA tomato growing businesses hit by an exotic virus have been given the green light to resume trading.
'Time of trepidation' as bird flu risk increases in Australia in spring
By Jane McNaughton
Experts are on edge, fearing this will be the spring that the "catastrophic" H5 strain of bird flu arrives in Australia.
#EMAPI2025 #EMAPI #IAS #biosecurity
I presented at the 17th International Conference on the Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions, hosted by Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 2–5 September 2025.
"Rapidly estimating the relative
likelihood of (thousands of)
plants becoming weedy"
Christopher E. Buddenhagen, Graeme Bourdôt, Shona Lamoureaux, Alasdair Noble, Murray I. Dawson,
Craig B. Phillips
Funding: AgResearch Biosecurity Flagship
Environment Canterbury
To: EMAPI 2 September 2025
Here's a new weed to watch out for in NZ: long-flowered Veldt grass, Ehrharta longiflora.
I found one in flower yesterday. It's an annual relative of the now widespread perennial Veldt grass, Ehrharta erecta, which the NZ Plant Conservation several years ago voted the worst environmental weed in NZ. That's because it chokes out semi-shaded areas in bush where a lot of native herbaceous plants like to grow.
Long-flowered Veldt grass may not be as bad, since it's a fast-growing Spring annual, but still, do we want to take that risk?
At the moment the *only place* in all of the South Island that it's known is around the base of Hackthorne Road in Christchurch. Some effort has been made to contain it but the main property that it's on doesn't want the council on her land so it keeps spreading here.
If you find it anywhere else, that's important. Note the distinctive pinkish bracts on the flowers.
Potato mop-top virus detected at four more Tasmanian sites
By Adam Holmes
Biosecurity Tasmania says the virus has been detected at a further four Tasmanian properties, and may have been present in the state for two years.
Potato mop-top virus detected at four more Tasmanian sites
By Adam Holmes
Biosecurity Tasmania says the virus has been detected at a further four Tasmanian properties, and may have been present in the state for two years.
#AI is making it easier for bad actors to create biosecurity threats
The spread of artificial intelligence worries #BioSecurity experts, who say the technology could lead to accidental or deliberate creation and release of dangerous diseases and toxic substances.
