Is there a guarantee that EHB will not infest Western Australia again?
We can not guarantee that that EHB will always be detected by Western Australian quarantine procedures, although detector dogs and acoustic equipment will significantly reduce the risk. Additionally, a major pine supplier plans to install new equipment towards the end of 2009 which will increase the availability of treated pine, and also lower the additional cost of using treated pine in housing construction. The Department of Housing and Works is also proposing a change to the Australian Building Code to include a mandate that treated pine must be used where areas are subject to EHB Priority Management Zones. With these changes in place, and with the extensive removal of pine trees from susceptible suburbs, EHB food sources will be significantly reduced, therefore making any future infestations easy and cost effective to manage and eradicate.
