Capacity & Capability
1800 Hotline
Exotic plant pests pose a major and continued threat to Australia's plant industries, with serious ramifications for the profitability of individual producers, as well as wider trade and market access issues. Early detection is the key to mounting appropriate and effective responses that have the best chance of eradicating or minimising the impact of exotic pests. The potential for early detection is enhanced by public and grower awareness, coupled with a simple reporting system. As a means of complementing existing surveillance and monitoring initiatives PHA, in conjunction with the Australian Government and all state/territory agriculture departments, manages a national phone number to encourage early reporting of serious exotic plant pests, and to reduce the costs of exotic plant pests on producers and the community.
The Exotic Plant Pest Hotline is a free call telephone service provided for Australia's plant production sectors and plant health services to report suspect detections of unusual exotic plant pests and diseases. The hotline is staffed during normal working days and business hours in your state or territory. The service allows callers to directly report suspect pest detections to an area where action can be taken by knowledgeable staff.
PHA is working with our Members to increase awareness of the hotline through the Farm Biosecurity communication campaign.
Pest specific materials including fact sheets and contingency plans are located on PHA's Pest Information Document Database (PIDD), or through PaDIL's Plant Biosecurity Toolbox.
