Emergency and significant plant pests
Call the Emergency Plant Pest Hotline: 1800 084 881 to report any pest or disease that you believe could be an Emergency Plant Pest. Calls to the Hotline are free on landline phones.
What are Emergency Plant Pests
Emergency Plant Pests are pests and diseases of such concern they are considered a national threat. Emergency Plant Pests are either:
- not present in Australia
- present in Australia and under an official containment and/or eradication program.
Anyone who suspects or diagnoses an Emergency Plant Pest is legally required to report it immediately.
Failure to report may result in a fine or prosecution, see the Ministerial Notices that support the PQS.
List of Emergency Plant Pests
For a full list of Emergency Plant Pests see Ministerial Notices that support the PQS.
The top most significant plant pests and diseases not present in Australia are:
- Asiatic and African citrus psyllids ()
- Brown marmorated stink bug
- Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum
- Citrus canker
- Citrus variegated chlorosis (CVC) ()
- Fire blight ()
- Glassy-winged sharpshooter () – a vector for Xylella fastidiosa
- Gypsy moths ()
- Huanglongbing (HLB) ()
- Karnal bunt ()
- Khapra beetle ()
- Xylella fastidiosa ()
- Spotted Winged Drosophila ()
Plant pests and diseases of significant concern
Plant pests and diseases of significant concern present in Australia but under official control are:
- Australian plague locust
- Bacterial wilt of potato ()
- Blueberry rust ()
- Boil smut of maize ()
- Citrus blight disease ()
- Citrus gall wasp (CGW)
- Citrus red mite ()
- Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) ()
- Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus
- Dickeya dianthicola ()
- European house borer
- Fall Army Worm
- Fruit fly
- Fusarium wilt of tomato ()
- Giant pine scale
- Green snail
- Melon thrips ()
- Myrtle rust
- Parlatoria date scale ()
- Phylloxera
- Potato cyst nematode (PCN)
- Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd)
- Pyriform scale ()
- Tomato potato psyllid
- Tomato red spider mite ()
- Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) ()
Exotic invasive ants
Find out more about exotic invasive ants.
Reporting suspected cases
Quick reporting can prevent a major outbreak.
If you detect a disease or pest you can report by:
- calling the Emergency Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881
- submitting the online plant pest report form.