28 April 2025
Who does this notice affect?
This notice affects importers of live plants (nursery stock), customs brokers and departmental staff.
What has changed?
Effective immediately, enhanced regulatory measures are now in place to manage the risk of Xylella fastidiosa (Xylella) in plant hosts imported from Iraq for use as nursery stock.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has identified a recent publication which reports the presence of Xylella in oleander plants in Iraq. We have determined that the report provides credible evidence that Xylella is present in Iraq and as such, host nursery stock imported from Iraq must meet’ high-risk’ country conditions for import into Australia.
The revised conditions mean that host nursery stock imported from Iraq must undergo increased testing, treatment and pre-export certification.
The conditions for plants from ‘high-risk’ Xylella countries (including Iraq) are:
- Tissue cultures: All tissue cultures must be derived from mother tissue cultures that were found free of Xylella through testing with two polymerase chain reaction tests (PCR) and certified by the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of the exporting country.
- Non-tissue cultures (e.g. rooted plants, cuttings, budwood, some corms and bulbs): All plant material must be treated or tested in Australia, in accordance with one of the following options:
- Hot water treatment (50°C for 45 minutes) at an Approved Arrangement site authorised to perform this treatment, or
- Post-entry quarantine at the Commonwealth’s post-entry quarantine facility for a minimum of 12 months with all plants tested for Xylella.
All other commodity import conditions will continue to apply.
Reference
Bakir, ZB, Ahmed, KM, Mohamed RY 2023, ‘Isolation and identification of Xylella fastidiosa that cause oleander leaf scorch’, Rafidain Journal of Science, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 102-109.
Background
- Xylella is Australia’s number one priority plant pest. It is an invasive bacterial pathogen that causes a devastating disease in over 700 species of plants. If it were to enter Australia, it would be practically impossible to eradicate as there is no treatment or cure.
- A list of host genera is available on the department’s website.
- The current changes are being implemented based on available scientific evidence demonstrating a change in Xylella’s global risk profile.
- The department remains committed to staying vigilant to monitor for new scientific evidence to inform the need to broaden Xylella risk management measures to additional host genera and high-risk countries.
Further information
Please contact Plant Import Operations via email at imports@aff.gov.au (please title the subject line of the email ‘Plant T2 – Xylella’).