This Biosecurity Advice notifies stakeholders of the formal commencement of the Pest Risk Analysis for Fresh Cut Flowers and Foliage Imports – Part 3. The department expects to release the draft report for public consultation in mid-2023.

Fresh cut flowers and foliage have been imported into Australia on a commercial basis for over 50 years. With this trade comes the potential to introduce unwanted pests and diseases into Australia.

We initiated the Pest Risk Analysis for Cut Flower and Foliage (the Cut Flower PRA) in 2018 to assess pests of biosecurity concern to Australia associated with imported cut flowers and foliage from all countries. The PRA also determined whether the introduction of revised conditions (on 1 March 2018) managed the arthropod biosecurity risks to achieve the appropriate level of protection (ALOP) for Australia.

The PRA is being conducted in three parts, two of which have already been completed, Part 1 in June 2019 and Part 2 in June 2021.

Part 1 was an assessment of the 3 main groups of arthropod pests intercepted at the border on imported fresh cut flowers and foliage - thrips, aphids and mites.Part 2 was an assessment of all other arthropod pest groups (such as beetles, flies, bugs (other than aphids), wasps, bees and ants, and moths and butterflies) found on the pathway.

The reports are available at https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/policy/risk-analysis/plant/cut-flowers

Since the introduction of revised import conditions in 2018 and the publication of Parts 1 and 2 of the PRA, we have observed a 70% reduction in the rate of detections of quarantine pests in imported fresh cut flowers and foliage.

The third and final part of the PRA will be the department’s first formal risk analysis of pathogens on the cut flower pathway.

This review will assess the biosecurity risk posed by key pathogens (viruses and viroids, bacteria, including phytoplasmas and fungi) associated with global imports of fresh cut flowers and foliage. It will also evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of current phytosanitary measures in reducing the level of biosecurity risk to meet Australia’s appropriate level of protection (ALOP). The review will include an examination of devitalisation requirements on the pathway.

We expect to release the draft report for Part 3 of the PRA for public consultation in mid-2023. We will issue another Biosecurity Advice to invite comment at that time. Following the consultation period, we will consider all stakeholder comments in preparing the final report.