A Hawkweed Warning For Outdoor Operators

One small choice outdoors can ripple into something massive: a moment of inattention around water, or a few seeds stuck in a boot tread, can change lives and landscapes. We start with World Drowning Prevention Day and the sobering reality that drowning stats are still trending the wrong way, then talk about what it means for outdoor educators, guides, and operators who work around water every week.

We also share what we learned from coming together as an industry at the outdoor learning conference, masterclass, and awards night, including the strongest themes from your feedback: keep the networking, make sessions more hands-on, sharpen the focus, and prioritize face-to-face connection. From there we flag time-sensitive items that shape the future of outdoor work, including open consultation on AAAS proposed changes, final industry engagement on VET outdoor leadership qualifications, and practical safety updates like SafeWork Australia’s lithium-ion battery toolkit.

Then we hand over to Emma from National Parks and Wildlife NSW for a clear, practical briefing on invasive weeds, with hawkweed as the standout threat. You’ll learn why hawkweed can create damaging monocultures, how to recognize key features, and how outdoor businesses can reduce biosecurity risk through Clean Arrive Clean Leave hygiene, role modeling with clients, and fast reporting with accurate photos and location details.

If you care about water safety, biodiversity, and the credibility of the outdoor industry in NSW and the ACT, hit subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review that helps the right people find it.

Transcript

Welcome, Country, And Community Updates

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Outdoors New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, weekly Outdoor Industry Connect and Share Forum. Where ideas thrive, collaborations spark, and our industry comes together to grow. Let's connect, share, and make an impact. This episode is recorded live with our professional outdoor friends and provided post-event as a resource for the outdoor industry.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Good morning everyone. Welcome to another Connect and Share with Outdoors New South Wales and ACT. And it's episode 23 in season four. And we missed last week. So that it could have been episode 24 because that's how many weeks we've had since we started this year. But we missed last week because most of us were all together at the outdoor learning conference. So more on that later. But uh before we get going, I would love to acknowledge the traditional learners and the lens in which we all meet on today. Today I'm on Darug Country back in uh Northwest Sydney and pay my respects to Elders Past Present. And amazingly, I want to share with you what is actually happening live in the world of our connection to country. And Gadung Maring is one of our partners on our event last week, and uh they are doing some magnificent uh work down on the South Coast and in Sydney and now in actually in the North Coast. Um, but I wanted to share this with you. Ray shared uh his why, and as you all know, I'm very passionate about our whys because it resonates and connects with our uh people a lot easier and and more efficiently, and people buy into why we do what we do. But uh Ray shared his amazing why, and uh he talked about lasting change. He talked about the spirit, the pride and the belonging that comes from Aboriginal culture and a connection to country and how it flows outwards into the families, the communities, and the country, and how he really is inspired about creating a foundation for lasting change. I think he inspired every single one in the room uh on the Friday, on what day did he speak? Thursday, and then we had um Brother Jay as as we uh we uh acknowledge him, uh Jacob on Saturday morning, who did an amazing uh acknowledgement and uh talked about what he does at Trinity Grammar, uh, which is where we held our event last week. So thank you so much to Gadungle Maring, and we actually now celebrate the renewed uh vision that Ray has for the organization under Maring. So basically, he has renamed the organization and uh certainly doing some great work uh there.

World Drowning Prevention Day Focus

SPEAKER_04 2:52

Right, let's get into uh a bit about today, and it is World Drowning Prevention Day, so 25th of July. Uh, a day that we need to ponder on our role when it comes to preventing drowning across the world, and due to rural life savings efforts here in Australia, um, they've got some great news. So I just want to share this video just quickly with you uh to understand a little bit more about World Drowning Prevention Day. If I can.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Globally, more than 300,000 people lose their lives to drowning every year. In Australia, hundreds of families lose loved ones to drowning annually. World Drowning Prevention Day is a chance for everyone to reflect on what they can do to protect themselves and the people they love from drowning. We are asking organisations across Australia to help promote World Drowning Prevention Day to shine a spotlight on and raise awareness of the fact that anyone can drown, no one should. Here's how you can get involved. Go blue, light up blue. We're encouraging organisations to go blue to highlight World Drowning Prevention Day. Either light up your building or reach out to your community to light up blue on 25 July. Go blue. It's not just buildings that go blue. You can too. Decorate your office, wear blue, or host a blue-themed event. Show your support and raise awareness of World Drowning Prevention Day. Share our resources. Visit the Royal Life Saving Australia website to access all the available resources, including social media assets, posters, and copy. Share your stories. Be shorter tag in your social media posts. Be part of the global movement to prevent drowning and promote water safety.

SPEAKER_04 4:48

So I'll share a little bit about the event that we had yesterday with the Rural Life Saving on the national summit uh that was held uh yesterday. It's actually continuing today, but uh I will share more on that in a little

Conference Recap And Award Winners

SPEAKER_04 5:03

bit. But first of all, a thank you to everyone who made our events last week what they were. Uh you can see the images here. The top one is our masterclass participants from right across uh actually the country, not just New South Arsenal ACT, and also our award winners on Thursday night who took away some amazing achievements and we got to celebrate that with them. And the bottom one is their outdoor learning conference. So uh a great collection of amazing individuals there uh sharing practice and uh inspiring others to do more in the outdoors. So Friday, the 21st of August, as a follow-up to the masterclass, uh Karen Witt from the Department of Ed team in the Office of Sport has uh invited all our members for another catch-up. We didn't quite get to all of the conversations that we wanted to have in the session of the masterclass. There just isn't enough time for a lot of the conversations we we need to have. So Karen has offered another session. Uh, so Friday, the 21st of August, from 11 to 12 pm. So please, I'll send you all the details in our newsletter next week so you can join that event because we need to have the conversations that matter when it comes to inspiring our young people to get outdoors and be part of the Duke of Ed scheme. And here are our amazing award winners that were announced on Thursday night. So big congratulations. I won't go through them all, I'll just call out um our massive winners. So, Yushan Lowe, amazing achievement with the Pinnacle Leader Trailblazer Award as one of our graduates from our program. Dr. Shannon Kara and Josie Valentini got our outdoor professional of the year awards. Our outdoor educator, protected practitioners was Damien Bergsma and Marlon Weber. We had some amazing uh finalists in our outdoor education practitioner of the year. So one that's been around uh for a little while uh is Michelle Allen and Laura Stamper. Sorry. And our outstanding contribution by an individual to the industry was awarded to Hugh Ward. We also had Outdoor Organization of the Year being the Nature School and Outdoor Education Programme of the Year was Cranbrook in the Field by Outward Bound Australia. In addition, we awarded our outdoor industry organization of the year to Into the Wild Adventures. And our adventure event of the year was Sea Otter Australia, uh coming up very soon in October again down in Bateman's Bay. Our outdoor play award went to Greater Sydney Parklands. Our outdoor industry supporter of the year went to National Parks and Wildlife Service. Funny, we have a guest from there today as our guest, our keynote speaker, and also we awarded Forestry Corporation. The judges could not separate both of them in their submissions. So well done to both of you. Our People's Choice Award went to Bush Magic Adventure Therapy. Great work there, team, and some amazing member engagement awards: Andy Mean, John Chapman, David Chitty, Tonya Gray, Charlene Bordley, Heather Porter, and Cameron Grave, with the Gold member for 2026 being awarded to Andrew Banner from Southbound Adventures. So well done to everyone for some amazing achievements and being part of a fabulous event uh last week.

Survey Feedback And Event Improvements

SPEAKER_04 8:32

So I just want to share with you what you told us. We sent out some surveys and said, hey, how did that go? So we just wanted to tell you that we are listening. And here is the feedback from our events from last week. So we had a good response. Uh, 100% would recommend our events. Thank you, team. Uh, love your work. Uh, but that just means that we might be getting something right. So good to hear. But there is some things there that we probably need to fix. And the average satisfaction was 4.4 out of five stars across the board. Uh, certainly the masterclass having the best response, uh, the awards night second, and our outdoor learning conference um uh a little bit lower, but still of a great rate. So let's have a look. Certainly the uh the timing was right, uh, that's what we kept hearing. Uh the networking was gold, and uh our sessions were certainly um taken up as uh as really relevant and worthwhile. Uh less Zoom, more face-to-face. We had a few speakers due to uh travel restrictions that couldn't be there in person. That was challenging. Uh, when you're in there face-to-face, yes, it is certainly preferred to have that. Um make it hands-on, more practical tasks. Heard you loud and clear there. That sounds great for next time. Uh, the structure of the networking, more uh speed networking sessions, switching tables would certainly help. So, all of that sounds great with some new content requests around uh governance, compliance, financial management, and maybe the who's who of where we need to uh work with government agencies. So great comments there. Um, as far as the awards night, uh yep, certainly rated high, four out of five stars for uh 16 out of 18 of you. Definitely again recommending the event. Oh, whoops, sorry, too quick. And uh timing worked, uh, appetite to grow it. So there's certainly um, yeah, more inspiration to uh continue on this journey with the awards. Um, I think majority of people said let's sit down and eat. So that's fair enough. Uh we all made you stand up in a room uh that was probably um meant for cocktail, not uh not dining, but certainly uh more time to eat as well. Um when it came to the outdoor learning conference, you all took away some great uh sessions. Certainly, Jess was highly voted uh the number one guest guest speaker there, and also our wombats, uh Jo and uh and her team member there sharing the news about wombats was uh taken very highly. Certainly the connection across the board um and that networking opportunity again was highlighted. Longer, deeper breakouts was a comment we heard, as well as sharpening the focus on you know who it's it's pitched to and and uh who should be in the room. Uh people did notice the day true to drop off. It was a Saturday, um, and we had less people attend on the Saturday, so making it uh more viable and making sure people um stay on was the comments. But um also what about excursions? Can we actually look at uh the place and the surroundings a little bit more? So, really great feedback, gang. Thank you so much. Uh, the timing um obviously it's a little bit biased. We actually asked all the attendees what the timing was, right? Of course the timing was right, they were there. Um but now we'll go out to our general audience and ask about timing for them because I know there was a lot of people that wanted to be there but just couldn't. Um, the 2027 locations, yes, this is going to be up for discussion, not only board level but committee level as well. But some great suggestions there uh for our locations in 27 for the outdoor learning conference and 28 for our masterclass. Uh, but remember we do have a summit next year, so we might combine the summit with the outdoor learning conference. So thank you again for all your feedback. We do listen and we try to shape these events so they are exactly what you want them to be. So back on to

Water Safety Summit And Industry Consultations

SPEAKER_04 12:40

this week. And as I say, I was at the uh National Water Safety Summit yesterday. Uh, I was lucky to be asked to be on a uh plenary panel as well as present on the new AAAS proposed changes. Um, so some great opportunities to have amazing discussions. But uh I do need to reiterate that the drowning stats are not looking good. And uh I know we all have a role to play in this, particularly from our side where we're educating people on how to navigate water safely. Um, yeah, certainly the half-year review uh isn't looking promising. We're still on the incline since 2020 on our drowning statistics. Um, and I wanted to share this bottom right slide here with you. Teresa Stanley came all the way from Auckland for the event, and she was presenting on how she's got stats on the rise of fatalities in New Zealand, but how it correlates with the lack of spend on drowning prevention by the New Zealand government. So interesting there. They certainly have a role there to advocate uh for some more attention on this. So thank you to the team from Royal Life Saving Australia for having me and uh look yeah, look forward to continuing conversations with them. And I do remind you that uh the AAAS review is still open. It will be open until the 31st of July. So if you haven't had your say on uh on the current proposed changes, I urge you to do so before uh next week, before the 31st of July. The other thing that is available for you to comment on is our new VET course. So the VET, um uh I should say the outdoor leadership qualifications, whether it be cert two to cert four, are all now in its final stages of industry engagement. There is only a two-week window as of last Tuesday, so uh that is now a week and a half left for you to comment on these changes. So please jump in, get into the consultation hub, have a look at these proposed changes, and uh have your say. Uh the feedback is due 4th of August.

Safety Toolkits, Surveys, And Key Dates

SPEAKER_04 14:56

Now, lithium iron batteries are becoming a common practice here in the outdoor industry with e-bikes. Uh, SafeWork Australia have just released a toolkit, includes a lovely video, which I won't show you now, but this is an important safety aspect for those businesses that do have lithium-ion batteries in their workplace. So please jump on a SurfWorks SafeWorks website uh and uh make sure you're definitely compliant uh when it comes to safety around lithium ion batteries. Whoops, too quickly. The second one I'll ask you to look at is the NATCOR survey. They presented at our masterclass last week and also the learning conference. About the next three years, they've got some more funding to keep our industry safe when it comes to severe weather, and they're asking for your feedback on what you need when it comes to adapting to severe weather. This closes on the 4th of September, and you will see the results being shared at the National Outdoor Education Conference in Cairns. So uh great opportunity to have uh your input into this so it can be shaped to your needs. And the second survey here that I've got for you is from the Bureau of Meteorology, and I caught up with MJ yesterday. Uh, so great to see you at that event, MJ. But the Severe Weather and Society survey will also help path the way of how Bureau look at forecasting. So uh they have been working with NATCOR on this project as well, but it is a pretty big survey, but it's really um important when it comes to our guys when you're planning your events and what you need when it comes to hazard forecasting. It could take up to 30 minutes, so please set some time aside to do this survey, but it could shape the tools that are going to become available from the Bureau of Meteorology for our industry. So if you click that QR code, it will take you through to that survey and uh spend some time set aside to uh complete that. Now, what's coming up? My goodness, I started looking at my diary, hyperventilating. So there is a lot. We've got the Bathurst Careers Expo coming up, we've got the North Coast Tourism Symposium next week. So I'll catch up with our North Coast uh members then. Uh our PLP, our pinnacle leadership program number three, will be commencing a week after. Now, you might have seen some social media. If you haven't on this, please look for it. It is about census night. This is an incredibly important opportunity, which I will go into in uh the next slide. But 11th of August is the night that you'll be asked to complete your census form. The top tour guide awards are on the 12th of August. We look forward to celebrating our amazing paddle finalists uh in that in those awards. And then we have the Hawkesbury Careers Expo on the 4th of September. Dynamic Motivation is turning 15, and I will be in Canberra to help celebrate with them on the 13th of September, and everyone is invited. So uh hopefully see you there. Uh on the 21st and 22nd of September, we have our lead with intent two-day course. So if you wanted to book on that, please make sure you do so soon. The National Outdoor Education Conference in Cairns is from the 28th of September right through to the 1st of October. The World Trails Conference in Perth is the 20th and 21st, the Australian Regional Tourism Convention. I'm losing my breath, and the 24th to the 26th is the Sea Otter Australia. So a lot going on. That's just before November, my goodness. So

Census Night: Use The Right Code

SPEAKER_04 18:36

speaking of census night, this is what you'll see on social media. There is a form going out across the industry to make sure your census form counts. As you might remember, previous censuses have divided our industry up into potential 11 different um job codes. And uh we have advocated on your behalf uh through the occupational standard classification numbers, uh, and it and it was changed in 2024 to be more consolidated. So we now have the outdoor adventure leader or guide as a code. So if that is your role description, please make sure you use the right words so it is counted. This is an immense opportunity for our industry, it's probably the first time we'll actually see us being represented uh in the actual way that we should be. So please download that form off the OCA website and uh have that beside you as you do your census form on the 11th of August. Now we have the amazing Emma from National Parks and Wildlife New South Wales to fill us in on potential hazard that we need to all be aware of. So, Emma, I'm going to hand over to you, catch my breath and have a coffee and listen intently.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Thanks very

Weeds Threatening Trails And Biodiversity

SPEAKER_00 19:55

much, Laurie, and thank you for the invitation to join today. Um, I am just going to see if I can share my screen and bear with me while I get sorted out. I'm very jealous of all the beautiful photos that you've been sharing today, so I think I'll need to share a couple as well from it. It's been a while since I've been on Zoom.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

Yeah. I think everyone's used to Teams these days.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

So hopefully that's a good work. Well done. Perfect. Well, thank you very much. And um, I'm joining from Monero Narago country today, so lovely to say hello. What I wanted to do was take a little bit of a time to speak about invasive hawkweed. Um but in being mindful of who's joining today, I've decided to take a little bit of a broader approach as well. So really wanting to talk a little bit more about weeds in general, the threats they pose, highlighting some specific, really nasty weeds that are emerging in New South Wales and ACT that are a little bit lesser known, um, definitely using hawk reed as a case study, and then also highlighting the role that industry can play in helping us be able to not just um prohibit the unintentional spread of weeds, but also promoting their role in eradication programs such as ours. So the big threat that weeds pose, um, weeds are actually the second greatest cause of biodiversity decline in New South Wales. I wasn't able to get stats on ACT, but I suspect it's up there as well. Um the largest threat is actually land clearing, but weeds by their very nature can interrupt all sorts of outdoor engagement and activities from impacting local native flora and fauna, disrupting habitat, um, just wrecking bushland trails and walking. You know, we've got blackberry, I'm sure everyone's seen that around. It just is um they can take over areas so so quickly. St. John's Wart is a big problem down here as well. Uh, they can interrupt waterways and lakes, um, can disrupt nature parks and more. So really Just it interrupts everything that we can potentially be doing outdoors, and particularly, you know, most individuals don't want to go outside and see lots of invasive weeds. We want to be celebrating our native flora and fauna. And particularly for the outdoor industry, it's natural environment dependent. So being able to help promote and be able to protect our environment is a win for everyone. So some of you may be familiar with the weeds of national significance list or ones list. So that's about 32 identified invasive weeds with potential for spread, large environmental, social impacts, economic impacts. Blackberry, for example, is on that list. What's lesser known, however, is the national alert list for environmental weeds. So these are 28 weed species that have been identified as being in the very early stages of invasion in Australia, and they pose significant threats to biodiversity. These can be some of the worst of the worst. Orange hawk greed and mouse ear hawk greed are on this list. And in New South Wales and ACT, a lot of those on the list are actually classed as prohibitive matter as well, so will be subject to biosecurity controls and measures. So I've highlighted two here at the moment. So we've got Scotch Heather. If you have a look, it's predominantly found in Tasmania, but actually a colleague in my team detected this in Cosy Osco National Park two years ago. We found just the one plant, but it was on a really popular walking track. So it was very lucky she had a very keen eye for heather, and we've been able to destroy that plant, and we're monitoring for any potential others. Blue hounds too didn't know that it was a potential weed, but highly toxic to animals. It's down in and around Eden, but can overrun forests really quickly. So again, these will probably be more unfamiliar to individuals, but we're really looking to promote awareness of them because they're such an important thing to catch early. So, as touched on, hawkweeds do have the honour of appearing on the alert list. And hawkweeds are a perennial plant, they're native to northern uh northern hemisphere, South Africa, and South America. And we actually only have three species in Australia: orange hawkreed, mausier, and king devil. I'm going to focus on orange and macier as they're the ones that are detected in New South Wales. King Devil is only found in Victoria at the moment. They are, like most weeds, problematic in their own right because they should not be here. However, hawkrees can be, particularly the pillarcellar variety, can be really, really nasty. They grow as a monoculture, so we see these huge maps start forming. They actually steal the water and nutrients and they're aleopathic. So it's almost like chemical warfare against our native plants. They prohibit the seeding and germination of plants around them, particularly our natives, to really set themselves up for spread into those areas. So they completely can change landscape. If the image might be a little bit hard to tell, but hopefully you might be able to see we've got some grass, green vegetation, and then these grey patches. That's actually all moussier hawkweed. So this is an image captured from New Zealand. Unfortunately, they've got a few hawkweed varieties in New Zealand. They've had to abandon more than six million hectares of agricultural and grazing land because hawkweeds come in, it's taken over. Unfortunately, the onus of management and control is just too great now, and it's just been left to become hawkweed territory. So we have got a really good idea of the potential how potentially catastrophic hawkweed spread in New South Wales could be. So, very luckily in some respects, orange hawkweed is only found so far in Kosyosko National Parks and on some neighbouring private estates. Mausir is only found in Kosyosko National Park up on the main range in the Strizlecki Basin area in approximately about 7.4 hectare management area. An eradication program has been in place since 2003. And really excitingly, everything's on track, but certainly eradication is a marathon, not a sprint. Some key characteristics of pillocella hawkweeds. If you find one, you'll likely be able to notice oddities in other plants that will probably be hawkweed. So they grow as a rosette. They have really, really hairy leaves, which are a little bit different to like fuzzy leaves. Some of you might be familiar with billy buttons up here in our highlands. They've got like a really soft, squishy kind of presence. Hawkweeds are just kind of ugly to be to be very nice weed to look at. But you know, they've got these really distinctive hairs, which separates it from a lot of other lookalike species. They also have stolens like strawberry plants. So that's one of the main ways they spread as well, is by sending out runners. We've got a few more pictures here as well, which hopefully individuals will be able to see some of those really distinctive hairs on the buds of flowers. They're really black and ugly. And the orange hawkweed flat plant in particular has this really bright distinctive colour that is very um unusual to see in our native flora in the area. So it really does stand out. Mouse here is a little bit more challenging. If any are familiar with the main range, most of our plants have a yellow flower, so it can be a little bit trickier to use the flower as a distinguishing identification feature.

SPEAKER_04 27:35

It's still got the hit the hairy leaves, has it?

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Yes, absolutely. Particularly mouse here, they're they're even longer than on the orange hawkweed plant. Um, so you know, they're just you know, you kind of look and you go, that doesn't look quite right. So, how can industry help? A big

Stop Hawkweed Spread With Clean Gear

SPEAKER_00 27:55

thing for us is conf conservation and prevention first. So there are really three key principles that we're hoping that all individuals in New South Wales and ACT can can help um help work towards practicing good hygiene, educating and role modelling, and also reporting. It is a big risk to our program. We've got a really good idea of where hawkweed is or where we think it is. But certainly, if we're able to make sure that it is not in other areas of New South Wales, that is just an absolute boost to our confidence, and we know that we can take that information, know that eradication very much is on track. If we're successful, it will be the first time a weed has been successfully eradicated from New South Wales. Um, so a little bit of pressure there, and we're really hoping individuals can help us like Outdoors New South Wales and ACT. So Rive Clean and Leave Clean, really hoping that this is a familiar concept to many, but it is one that we're really looking to embed. And certainly having joined the program here at National Parks, I didn't come from an environmental background actually, and I realize kind of it is something that is such a missed opportunity for so many individuals. So we're really hoping that this becomes standard practice and part of everyday operations for anyone who's heading outdoors. Um, so particularly because recreational users can be a major spread of weed accidentally. And in fact, it's probably how mouse ear hawkweed became came to New South Wales in the first instance. Most likely came on contaminated hiking or camping equipment setup shop from New Zealand or Victoria, and we've been now managing that since 2014. Knowing specific weeds in the areas that you're operating can be really helpful. Looking for those things that stand out as not as being unusual or out of place, they might be on that alert list. They might be a new weed that hasn't had the time to really establish themselves yet. Being out to promote cleaning gear, gaiters, boots, kayaks, um any sort of equipment that could accidentally be carrying plant material, that needs to be cleaned before you arrive somewhere new and then before you leave as well, ideally in the same spot. So if anything pops up, you know why it could have come there. As an outer protection as well for fungal diseases, some might be familiar with phytophora. It's a um causes root rat, it's it's really problematic in areas that it's had a chance to spray it. You can use a mix of 70% methylated spirits or ethanol and 30% water to spray down your git. Now it won't remove seeds or kill seeds, but it definitely will kill anything that's fungal. And using a stiff bristled brush to clean your equipment, washing down, particularly if you're in a city area, you can let that go into the sewage. That's going to get treated so it's not a worry around spreading kind of weed plant material that way. Educating and role modeling. Um, so really hoping that we can harness citizen scientists in all forms, whether they're clients, guests, uh, you know, school groups being able to share details on the local priority reads, being able to promote native flora and fauna, it can be such a point of difference for organizations as well to have that knowledge and be able to share. We have had research done through the Hawk Reed eradication program, and what that research found on park use and I guess guest knowledge was that most are aware that they should be doing some form of biosecurity or hygiene practice, um, but they actually don't know how to go about that. So if you're able to incorporate within your standard practices, you know, brushing down, cleaning, and also letting people know, well, this is to prevent accidental spread to help promote local native flora and fauna, that's going to be a really great talking point and engagement. And certainly it's what we see a lot for our team as well. People are keen to understand more and just know more about their environment. Particularly on park reserve as well, um, national parks or reserves, following park signage any directions, remaining on form trails where possible is a great way to limit spread or be able to have things pop up in spaces where we can find it more easily. The last and the most important is reporting. We really need people to be keeping an eye out and helping us be our eyes and ears on the ground in places where we're not. So taking pictures of the plant overall, leaves, flowers if it's present, recording in accurate location. There are so many different tools now available to make this really easy, like what three words. This is actually a report that we got from a park user in the season just gone, which is absolutely an orange hawkweed plant. So our signage is working, which we're really happy with. Uh, this plant was killed, which was really nice. Um, and again, if you're not sure if you're thinking, oh, it I this might be native, but um just report it. It will be it's much easier to check, and it's really um is really lovely to actually have that engagement as well with different users in our space.

SPEAKER_04 32:55

And where do they report? Oh, you're gonna say where they report it.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

Great lines, Lori. Uh so in New South Wales, um, if you're outside of a national park or a national park reserve, you can contact your local control authority. So that is the local council area in which you're you're there for the day. Um, if you pass on those details to their biosecurity team, they'll be able to take it from there. There is also the New South Wales Biosecurity Hotline, so that's um operated by the Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development, DPERD. Um, we love acronyms in government land. Um, and if you're in a national park, you can contact the local National Parks Office and let their staff know because their team would absolutely jump on that. Within the ACT, the most important number is the exotic plant pest hotline, which is that 1-800 number. Um, more broadly as well, there are oodles of resources available online that cover off everything that I've just spoken about in much more detail. They've got tools, there are some great images. Um, you can really nut down into the area of most interest to yourself of what's around that could be a weed to be on the lookout for. And our team certainly are more than happy to spend an entire day, if not week, talking about hawkweed. We do have some resources as well, and we're really keen to partner with different operators within our area to raise awareness about hawk weed is a really important part of eradication, is if we can have more people understanding what's going on, what to look out for, it only boosts our confidence and our chances of being successful. So that's a very quick, hopeful introduction and overview about hawk weed in New South Lacks.

SPEAKER_04 34:38

Thank you

Report Sightings And Final Wrap

SPEAKER_04 34:39

so much, Emma. I think that's awesome information. Um, and no doubt these guys are always out there seeing what's uh what's changing on the landscape. So yeah, really great info. And um, I suppose is there any quick questions? Uh I know we've got someone from Victoria here. So uh you mentioned the other type is in Victoria, so um, yeah, that might be an interesting one for you, Dave.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

Yes, well I've got parked in Victoria just sitting over there at a stand at the conference.

SPEAKER_04 35:13

So awesome. Go and tap them on the shoulder and talk to me about Hellpoint.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

Yeah. One one thing I saw uh done many years ago was a small colour brochure um with uh you know with some noxious weeds to report. Yeah. And uh and an app works better these days than a phone call, yeah, like you know, like um yeah, or a text message system, something of that nature. Yeah. So even a small brochure with uh a QR code on the back could be quite useful.

SPEAKER_00 35:47

Yeah, absolutely. It can get a little bit tricky, unfortunately, with just the different agencies involved, but certainly um what with the Australian Alps National Parks program, uh, we are actually having some new Hawk read and oxydaisy colour brochures printed. And it will have, unfortunately, not quite as sophisticated with a with an app, but it will be updated, um, updating all of the contact details depending on where you are, so you can help make those reports.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

Yeah, well, I think it's easy in Victoria because Dika manages all public land and uh parks as a part of DECA in a sense, yeah. So yeah, um, less agencies. But uh, but yeah, anyway, um good effort, so it's it's good stuff we've got to get on top of. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:30

Amazing. Thanks, Dave. Um, I think no other questions from the floor. I think Emma, that's amazing. We'll share this with all the members, get that out there. I'll throw up some information on the portal as well. Um, so really appreciate you being here and um thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Thanks very much, Laurie. Really appreciate being able to say hello.

SPEAKER_04 36:52

My pleasure. Okay, guys. Well, what we might do is close the recording and then get into our usual what else is happening around the grounds. So uh on that note, thank you for joining uh this week, and we'll see you all next week.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Thank you for joining the weekly Outdoor Industry Connect and Share Forum. Brought to you by Outdoors New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, your peak body for the outdoor industry. Together with our members, we're shaping the future of the outdoors. See you next week for more insights and collaboration.