Title: Invasive species 'poorly' managed in Victoria: audit
[Weekly Times - Peter Hunt, May 26, 2010] --PARKS Victoria's management of weeds and vermin in the state's 4 million hectares of parks and reserves is poorly planned and co-ordinated, according to Auditor General Des Pearson. The audit, released today, found governance arrangements for the control of invasive species, specifically between the Departments of Sustainability and Environment, Primary Industries and Parks Victoria, were complicated and not well coordinated. "Its (Parks Victoria's) planning is not robust, its data is inadequate and increasingly out of date, and its park management plans are also outdated and lack sufficient detail," the audit reported.
"Good progress has been made in managing some invasive species in some parks, but an increasing reliance on short-term initiative funding to address a long-term problem is detrimental to the effectiveness of the effort across the park network.
"Given the scale of the problem, if these organisational issues and resource constraints are not addressed, invasive species will continue to pose a major and likely growing threat to Victorian parks."
The audit found nearly half Victoria's national and state park management plans were more than a decade old and there was little monitoring of on-ground works to determine their effectiveness.
One of the greatest problems identified by the audit was Parks Victoria's reliance on short-term funding, which Mr Pearson said created uncertainty about resourcing invasive species management and compromised long-term planning.
He said given the scale of the problem, if these organisational issues and resource constraints were not addressed, invasive species would continue to pose a major and likely growing threat to Victorian parks.
In responding to the audit Department of Sustainability and Environment Secretary Greg Wilson said the department and Parks Victoria would revise governance arrangements to clarify roles, responsibilities and accountabilities for park management.