Neil Thomson: Shot-hole borer the new cane toad without strong action

Has the WA Labor Government fumbled the ball on the biggest environmental threat in WA’s recent history?

This question is now on the minds of everyone concerned about our urban tree canopy, our orchards, our wetlands, and our native bush vegetation.

It is anyone’s guess when it arrived, but probably a year or two before it was detected in 2021.

A tiny, inconspicuous, but voracious tree borer, named the polyphagous shot-hole borer, was accidentally introduced into WA.

It is also a guess about how it arrived but its first identified location in Fremantle points to the seaport as the likely entry point.

Unfortunately, this borer has a voracious appetite for dozens of tree species and will harm many more species where its infestation reaches a critical level.

Anyone who has flown into Perth airport, or driven across the border at Eucla or Kununurra, knows keeping WA free of pests and diseases is a big issue.

That work is largely through the efforts of our quarantine offices, who have been successful in keeping the State relatively free of imported pests and diseases.

But we live in an international age where thousands of tonnes of timber material are imported each year and that comes with risk.

What is clear is the polyphagous shot-hole borer has hitched a ride to WA.

That genie is now out of the bottle and has been marching through the suburbs with little fanfare — until now.

It’s the State Labor Government’s job to put the genie back into the bottle and so far they’ve been failing.

After it was initially detected, more than $40 million in funding over three years was made available for a national response.

Even though the pest is only in WA — for now — getting rid of it is a national priority, so it was fitting all States and the Commonwealth chipped in.

Compared to the $600m spent on RATs, or the extra $1.6 billion spent on signalling for trains announced last week (on top of the $13b for METRONET), $40m is embarrassingly low.

Trains might get people to work on time, but our environment is so massively at risk, that $40m seems far too small.

It’s not just the funding that is too small, the Government’s efforts are far too small as well — they don’t even have enough staff to remove infected trees.

It is also too small when the local councils are charging ratepayers and homeowners to pay for the action, rather than the State Government, whose coffers are overflowing thanks to a booming mining industry.

It is a sad reality that removing trees is probably the only way to deal with the pest.

To guarantee the insect is destroyed the timber has to be pulped so it is smaller than the borer — less than 2mm or about as wide as a grain of rice.

Insecticides are not a solution because they are ineffective at destroying the pest in infected trees.

It is in everyone’s interests for the Government to throw the kitchen sink at stopping the pest in its tracks.

Experts agree the best pest and disease control is stopping it at the border.

If that fails, it requires a concerted effort before the pest can spread so widely and deeply it can’t be eradicated.

It’s always got to be a case of going hard and going early if the border is breached.

But instead of doing that, the WA Labor Government has taken a leisurely pace.

We are going to have to go harder now to eradicate this pest because it is already spreading widely through Perth.

I don’t care to think what Australia will look like if we lose this battle.

In a worst-case scenario, it is likely all box elder maple trees will be destroyed.

Other tree species will be seriously impacted including fig, poinciana, mulberry, locust, plane trees and many more.

This means beautiful Moreton Bay figs in our parks are in the firing line.

The tree coverage in Kings Park, Hyde Park and the Supreme Court Gardens could be massively affected.

Even our orchards of mangoes and avocadoes will be impacted causing enormous economic damage.

It will be a full-blown agricultural and economic disaster if it gets out of Perth and into growing regions such as the South West or Carnarvon.

A study from South Africa — where the borer was able to take hold — estimated the economic impact would be $28 billion over a decade.

Worryingly, there isn’t enough research on the impact on WA natives, but we do know iconic WA tree species like wattles, marri, karri and banksias are at risk.

The number of species that are vulnerable to this pest is truly scary.

This issue needs much more publicity than it is getting.

It also deserves a huge coordinated effort and resource allocation by WA Labor.

We only have one shot in the locker at the shot-hole borer.

If it doesn’t work, it will be the West sending its small but destructive version of a cane toad to the rest of Australia.

If that happens, it will be Roger Cook’s legacy.

Neil Thomson is the shadow environment minister.