Regional inspection planning documents have formed part of the mandatory or essential documents used by regional weed committees to support the NSW Weeds Action Program. In the past these plans were inconsistent in format and often did not clearly identify high risk sites and pathways and the associated priority species. This presentation focusses on the process that was undertaken to update to a more consistent Regional Inspection Plan and identifies opportunities to improve these plans moving forward.
With the NSW Weeds Action Program moving to a grant process, it became apparent that the regional inspection planning documents needed to be updated to better align with the goals of the program and to support local control authorities in the development of their inspection programs. There was a need to move away from the focus of inspecting all properties, roads, waterways and sites on a 5-year cycle and to include a risk-based approach of identifying sites and pathways for state and regional priority species.
State Priority Weed Coordinators supported the Regional Priority Weed Coordinators in working with their regional weed committees to build new Regional Inspection Plans using the guidance notes developed. The process of developing these plans created stronger ownership of the plans and allowed for a better understanding of the risk-based approach to developing regional weed inspection programs. This was a move away from a focus on more widespread weed species and a standardised property inspection plan. The new Regional Inspection Plans now form an important supporting document for the local control authorities in the development of their NSW Weeds Action Program grant applications.
Going forward, we will continue to find ways to improve the Regional Inspection Plans, including an annual review based on any new incursions or information gained over the year or the development of a more standard rapid response procedure to include in the plans.