WAHSINGTON: The weed that is found in most states in Australia, including New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland, is currently controlled through labour intensive methods like spraying it with herbicide or digging it out.
But after four years, senior entomologist Michael Day said he was trialling an insect in a Brisbane laboratory.
He has been visiting Longreach properties with the infestations, to see if they could become trial sites once the insect had approval.
“Our collaborators in South Africa have found an insect which is highly damaging and controlling their coral cactus and so we have imported that particularly insect into a quarantined facility in Brisbane and we have tested it against species in Australia to make sure it is safe there, prior to us releasing it in Queensland,” he said.
“The testing is all complete and we have applied to Canberra to release the agent in Australia.
“At the moment the feedback from Canberra is that they believe it is also safe and worth releasing but we need to go through the protocols and procedures, which could take another six months before approval is finally granted.”
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