Local councils and the opposition are urging the state to urgently enhance their response to the tree-killing polyphagous shot-hole borer. They argue that federal funding is insufficient and that additional state funding is crucial to save tree canopies and crops, as well as to plan for recovery.
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00:00Grand old Morton Bay fig trees like this one in the Supreme Court gardens are under attack
00:07from the tiny beetle.
00:08There isn't a treatment.
00:09It's about eradication.
00:10It's about eradication.
00:13The Liberal leader and election candidates currently in local government raising the
00:17alarm.
00:18And there's been a huge delay.
00:19Deephead haven't moved quickly enough to get the limbs up.
00:22The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is leading a $41 million national
00:27response to stop shot hole borers breaking out of the Perth quarantine zone with 3,000
00:33trees already infected and mulched.
00:38This epidemic could see the face of Perth change forever.
00:44It is an agricultural disaster in the waiting.
00:48The Cook Labor Government should have gone hard and should have gone early, but they
00:52have failed.
00:54This is a biosecurity emergency.
00:57It is the equivalent of COVID for trees.
01:00And to this point, the state government have dealt with it like it's a cold.
01:04The government says it's been fighting the borer since 2021, but warned hasty action
01:09could spread the borer faster.
01:11Once it is in a tree, it is relatively stable while it has a food source.
01:17So I'm advised one of the worst things you can do is actually go in and start chopping
01:21down all the trees at once.
01:24Councils say they can't wait.
01:25We have 60 to 70 trees earmarked for removal that are still sitting there months later.
01:32Local councils are already funding additional work themselves, and they want more support
01:37to replace trees lost to shot hole borers, especially when a tree like this is valued
01:42at an estimated $750,000.
01:46They're pushing for a recovery plan and funding.
01:49This is so widespread, it is hard to measure.
01:54The government says it's still in the middle of the emergency, and recovery will come later.