The WA Liberals have accused the State Government’s approach to tackling an exotic beetle which is threatening Perth’s trees as akin to treating COVID with cold and flu medicine.
The call comes after The Sunday Times revealed local governments in Perth were growing increasingly impatient at the State’s response to the “disastrous” threat of the polyphagous shot-hole borer.
The borer is an extremely invasive insect that burrows into trees, causing irreversible damage.
Since its first detection in Fremantle in 2021 more than 6000 trees have been infected in the Perth quarantine area.
Speaking to media on Sunday, WA Liberal leader Libby Metam said the State Government failed to act before it was too late.
“This epidemic could see the face of Perth change forever,” she said.
“It is an agricultural disaster in waiting, the Cook Labor Government should have gone hard and should have gone early but they have failed to effectively ensure that this epidemic is eradicated.”
![Various treatments have been attempted by the State government to stop the beetles.](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/a83a9a6ece9d10543d0a7bb77621b04d0edb9d39.jpg)
Perth Lord Mayor and WA Liberal candidate for Churchlands Basil Zempilas said the pest could wipe out 60 per cent of the Perth City’s 16,000 trees.
“Make no mistake, this is a biosecurity emergency, it is the equivalent of COVID for trees,” he said.
“To this point the State Government have dealt with it like it’s a cold and only now, three years later, are popping off to the chemists to get some Codral.”
Mr Zempilas said some of Perth’s most cherished parks were under threat.
“Some of the most significant trees and significant parks in Perth are at great risk, Kings Park, Hyde Park, Supreme Court Gardens, to name just a few,” he said.
Native trees aren’t immune to the beetle, with more than 30 native species at risk out of the global list of 130.
Fig trees are most susceptible including the century-old fig tree between the Council House and Supreme Court Gardens which has already been infested.
![Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis speaks at a press conference regarding the Cook Government's $320,000 commitment to the Post Harvest Food Waste Transformation project. Pictured at Fresh Frontier Co., Bassendean.](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1c456ae3ead15f0a634d5edb434ee55a50187b92.jpg)
Speaking on Sunday, Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis rebutted criticism of the State Government’s response time and pointed to DPIRD raising awareness of the pest in September 2021.
She conceded the response was a complicated one which took time.
“I’m advised one of the worst things you can do is actually go in and start chopping down all the trees at once,” he said.
“The female borer can fly up to 400 meters, we want to make sure if we are disturbing the trees, that is chopping it down and then chipping it up, that we do so in a really carefully managed process so that it’s staged and so we don’t actually cause more spread of the borer.”
More than $44 million has been committed by the State Government through a cost-sharing arrangement with the Federal Government.
The money will be used as an emergency response to stopping the beetle, with the possibility of further transitional funding for replanting left open by the Minister.