MYRTLE RUST detected in Victoria Myrtle rust has recently been confirmed in a number of nurseries in Victoria. This is the first detection of myrtle rust outside New South Wales and Queensland. The disease has been confirmed in nursery stock in 13 production nurseries and wholesale outlets in metropolitan Melbourne. To date the disease has not been detected outside the commercial nursery sector. DPI Victoria is taking regulatory action requiring affected nurseries to destroy or treat and reinspect infected plant material and to treat all myrtaceous plants in the nursery prior to release. This containment strategy is designed to slow the spread of the disease while tracings investigations and surveys of high risk sites are undertaken to delimit the outbreak. Victoria has advised it will maintain its current import restrictions on myrtle rust host material from New South Wales and Queensland while it determines the distribution of the disease in the state. These restrictions will be subject to ongoing review as more information about the disease’s distribution becomes available.

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