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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 4319 ..
MR STANHOPE (continuing):
is a feature of most weeds-is that it is very invasive, it takes the available space, it competes very aggressively with other grasses and other weeds, it is a great coloniser and it is a great survivor. I understand that a typical Paterson's curse plant will per season produce upwards of some thousands of seeds and that Paterson's curse seed survives in the ground for upwards of seven years, waiting for those opportunities to colonise and to spread in the way that we have seen this year.
Of course, over this last season we have experienced absolutely ideal conditions for Paterson's curse and for other weeds. There has been a drought, grasses have suffered significantly and Paterson's curse's major competitors have suffered very seriously and significantly as a result of drought, and of major bushfire over and above that. The circumstance is ideal for Paterson's curse, just as it is for a range of other weeds, and it has taken full advantage of that. We see the results of that. It is a part of a cycle of droughts and fires that we have experienced throughout Australia ever since Paterson's curse was, most unfortunately, introduced into Australia as a desirable cut flower. Riverina bluebell I think it was sold as generally through the nurseries. But whether Paterson's curse should be regarded as a pest plant is a-
Mrs Dunne: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Under standing order 118 (a), the minister should be concise. We have just been here for two minutes, having a treatise on the habits of Paterson's curse, but the minister has not got to answering the question: why has it not been declared?
MR SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order. Resume your seat, Mrs Dunne. The minister has five minutes in which to respond and he is able to deal with the subject matter of the question, which is Paterson's curse.
Mrs Dunne: No, the question was: why hasn't he declared it? I have not asked him about the habits of Paterson's curse.
MR STANHOPE: Well, I think it is particularly important that we understand the context in which we have had this major invasion of Paterson's curse in this season-and we certainly have; it is certainly correct. It is a major issue and a major concern for land-holders across the ACT and, indeed, across the whole of New South Wales, the whole of South Australia and the whole of Victoria. There is a general view that there has never before been such a spread of Paterson's curse across the continent as there has been this season. As I said, that was a result of a combination of drought, fire and the fact that Paterson's curse is such an invasive weed that has this enormous capacity to invade and colonise. In the absence of the many grasses with which it normally competes, it has had a significant advantage over other plants in this current season.
There is, though, a debate around the steps that the ACT government might have taken. Indeed, we have funded weed control to a far greater extent in this last six months, in the last budget and in the second appropriation bill, than has been done by any government in the ACT ever. I think it is fair to say that we have doubled funding for weed control over the last six or seven months, and much of that was designed to address issues around what we anticipated to be an emergence of weeds such as Paterson's curse, blackberry and a range of others. The government has done what it might in relation to Paterson's curse, particularly in those horse paddocks that we control.
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