Castlereagh Macquarie County Council

Some serious weeds are required by law to be controlled by all landholders in a particular area. These are known as noxious weeds and the law that controls them in New South Wales is the Noxious Weeds Act 1993.Weeds that are declared noxious are those weeds that have potential to cause harm to the community and individuals, can be controlled by reasonable means and most importantly, have the potential to spread within an area and to other areas.

A weed is declared noxious because its control will provide a benefit to the community over and above the cost of implementing control programs. Many bad weeds do not meet the criteria for declaration. Noxious weeds will have limited distribution with the potential to become more wide spread and will cause impact on agriculture, human health or the environment.

In NSW the Noxious Weeds Act 1993 imposes obligations on occupiers of land to control noxious weeds declared in their area.
There are five classes of noxious weed identified in the Act. These classes are as follows:

Class 1 – Plants that pose a serious threat to primary production or the environment and are not present in the state or are only present to a limited extent. These plants must be eradicated from the land and the land must be kept free of these plants. The presence of class 1 weeds must be notified to the County Council.

Class 2 – Plants that pose a potentially serious threat to primary production or the environment of a region and are not present in the region or are only present to a limited extent. These plants must be eradicated from the land and the land must be kept free of these plants. The presence of these plants must be notified to the County Council.

Class 3 - Plants that pose a potentially serious threat to primary production or the environment of a region, are not widely distributed in the area and are likely to spread in the area or to another area.
The plant must be fully and continuously suppressed and destroyed.

Class 4 – Plants that pose a potentially serious threat to primary production, the environment or human health, are widely distributed in an area and are likely to spread in the area or to another area.
The growth and spread of these plants must be controlled according to the measures specified in a management plan published by the County council.

Class 5 -Plants that are likely , by their sale or the sale of their seeds or movement within the state or an area of the state, to spread in the state or outside the state.
There are no requirements to control existing plants, however the presence of the weed must be notified to the County Council
NOTE: In some situations plants in Class 3 and 4 may also not be sold , propagated or knowingly distributed