Send a letter to support the call for truth in labelling of garden plants

Help make a difference: urge the Federal Minister for Fisheries Forestry and Conservation to establish a taskforce to develop and implement a National Plant Labelling Code.

Consumers have a right to know whether a garden plant is poisonous or a weed before they buy it and take it home. With your help we can convince government to collaborate with the nursery industry to introduce responsible plant labelling.

Write to the Minister using the sample letter below.

Find out more

See our Poisonous and Invasive Plants in Australia report

Nicola Thomson, Policy Officer Invasive Species, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1264
Email: nthomson@wwf.org.au

The Minister for Fisheries Forestry and Conservation can be contacted at:

Senator the Hon. Eric Abetz
Minister for Fisheries Forestry and Conservation
Fax: 02 6273 7096
M1 17,
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2600

Sample text for your letter

Simply copy the text below into your word processor (e.g. Microsoft Word), replace the text "[[INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS HERE]]" with your details, and then fax or post it using the details mentioned above.

If you can, please also send us a copy of the letter so that we can gauge how many letters have been sent.

[INSERT DATE HERE]

Dear Minister,

I am writing in support of WWF-Australia's call for the establishment of a national taskforce to develop an Australian plant labelling code of practice.

I am concerned about the risk posed by poisonous and invasive garden plants. WWF's scoping study, Poisonous and Invasive Garden Plants in Australia: enabling consumers buy safe plants, identified over 100 poisonous plants that can be sold in Australia. Close to half of these plants are also invasive. I am concerned that these plants pose a particular risk to the safety of children and pets in the home. If they 'jump the back fence' and become weeds they also pose a broader risk to Australia's environment and rural industries.

I believe that all poisonous and invasive plants should be clearly labelled with a warning so consumers can make informed choices, and am aware that other retail industries are already required to operate under similar codes of practice.

I commend the Nursery Industry Association's initiative in releasing National Plant Labelling Guidelines. However, these guidelines must result in consistent warnings on plant labels throughout Australia in order to reduce poisoning incidents and limit the spread of new weeds.

I urge you to implement the recommendations of the WWF Report. I am aware that this proposal has the support of other interest groups and encourage you to involve a wide range of stakeholders to develop a national taskforce.

I understand that the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council's Draft National Weed Spread Prevention Plan includes management actions in relation to developing industry-specific codes of practice and a code of conduct for plant labelling. I believe there is a real opportunity for the plant labelling code to be a vehicle to pull together recent moves by governments and industry to improve safety standards on this issue and achieve an excellent outcome for both urban consumers and rural communities.

Yours faithfully,
[INSERT YOUR NAME]

[[INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS HERE]]

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Send a letter to support the call for truth in labelling of garden plants

Sample text for your letter

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