Ahead of the NSW state election on 25 March 2023, the NSW Government caretaker period has commenced. Limited updates will be made to this website during this period.
Biosecurity is good for business
Practicing good biosecurity means taking action to protect your property and business from the negative impacts of pests, diseases, weeds and contaminants.
Being biosecure will help:
Everyday farming practices are all part of being weed biosecure. This includes:
Your general biosecurity duty
As well as prescribing the rules for high risk biosecurity matter, the Biosecurity Act 2015 includes a biosecurity duty for primary producers and everyone who deals with biosecurity matter.
This means that all tiers of government, industry and the people of NSW need to work together to protect the economy, environment and community from the negative impacts of weeds.
This means primary producers and land managers need to:
Land managers and primary producers are supported in managing biosecurity by NSW Department of Primary Industries, Local Land Services, other public and private land managers, community members and peak industry bodies.
Visit the General biosecurity duty page for more information.
Case study
If a weed poses a biosecurity risk in your area, but is not the subject of any specific legislation, authorised officers of Local Control Authorities in your area may rely on the general biosecurity duty to manage that weed or prevent its spread. A Regional Weeds Committee would normally prepare guidelines or factsheets to guide the public in the best practice management and control of the weed.
Typically, property owners might be required to discharge the duty by controlling the movement of weeds onto and off their land by:
Information would be made available to property owners about ways to control the spread of a particular weed. However, in this example, property owners are not required to follow any particular method so long as they take reasonably practicable measures to control the spread of the weed.