There has been a 50 per cent jump in quarantine material collected at the WA/NT border. As the only growing region in WA that sits on an interstate border, the Ord Valley's irrigated horticulture, broadacre cropping and sandalwood industries are on high alert as several dangerous pests and plant diseases creep further west.
Located just 40 kilometres from WA's border with the Northern Territory on the outskirts of Kununurra, it is no stranger to biosecurity incursions. It's also close to where myrtle rust was found for the first time two months ago. Some fear that mango shoot looper and banana freckle disease could be next after they were each detected in the Northern Territory this year.
Source: abc.net.au