Authorised biosecurity and nature conservation officers

The Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 (MP Act) has replaced the Health (Drugs and Poisons) Regulation 1996 (the HDPR) and may affect invasive animal control activities.

Authorised Officers under the Biosecurity Act 2014 and the Nature Conservation Act 1992 who hold an approval under the HDPR to use regulated poisons, such as baiting products containing fluoroacetic acid for invasive animal control will need to consider the changes implemented by the MPA.

Under the MPA, restricted S7 poisons (RS7) includes strychnine, fluoroacetic acid and para-aminopropiophenone (PAPP). RS7 poisons are prescribed in schedule 1 of the Medicines and Poisons (Poisons and Prohibited Substances) Regulation 2021 (the Poisons Regulation).

General approval requirements

Authorised Biosecurity Officers and Nature Conservation Officers will be required to hold a general approval or be employed by an entity with a general approval to buy, possess, use, supply or dispose of a RS7 poisons (other than low risk fluoroacetic acid baits (LRFABs)) for the purposes of invasive animal control. This includes fluoroacetic acid concentrate to make fresh meat baits.

Apply for a general approval

To apply for a general approval, use Poisons general approval forms.

Entity level approvals

Queensland Government departments and local governments may either choose to hold an entity level approval (at department, division or regional level) or continue with the current arrangement of qualified Authorised Officers holding individual general approvals.

Under an entity level approval, the department, division or region will be responsible for ensuring that each officer complies with the approval conditions such as storing, applying, disposal and transporting RS7 poisons safely and securely to prevent unauthorised access as specified under the Poisons Regulation.

Substance management plans (SMPs)

It will be a condition that departments, divisions or regions that hold an entity approval to have a substance management plan (SMP) if they intend to hold more than a total of 100g of undiluted RS7s at any one time. Guidelines and templates will be available to support in the preparation of SMPs.

Compliance with the Poisons Regulation

Departmental Standards Dealing with restricted S7 poisons for invasive animal control (PDF 441 kB) and Substance management plans for regulated substances (PDF 283 kB) provide details about how to comply with the Poisons Regulation.

Competency requirements for the control of invasive animals are prescribed in the departmental standard Competency requirements for authority holders dealing with poisons (PDF 338 kB).

Dealing with low risk fluoroacetic acid baits (LRFABs)

LRFABs are fresh or APVMA registered manufactured baits with concentration of fluoroacetic acid no more than 0.05%. The concentration allowable in manufactured or fresh baits has been increased from 0.03% to 0.05% on the basis of health risk assessment.

The Poisons Regulation classifies authorised officers under the Biosecurity Act 2014 and Nature Conservation Act 1992 as Approved Persons and authorises them to possess, apply and dispose LRFABs on land managed by the relevant state department or local government.

Approved Persons are authorised on the basis of their competency and training to deal with LRFABs without the requirement for a specific approval under the MPA.

The authorised officers may also supply LRFABs to rural landholders and their employees who are classified as approved persons (see Table 1) to carry out baiting activities on landholder’s property. Chapter 3 of the Poisons Regulation details requirements for supplying LRFABs to a landholder as part of a coordinated baiting program.

Table 1 - Approved Persons - Rural landholders

Local government officers who are authorised under the MPA to deal with RS7 poisons for invasive animal control, landholders and other authority holders must comply with the departmental standard Dealing with restricted S7 poisons for invasive animal control (PDF 441 kB). Find out more about Local government use of poisons or download the fact sheet Local Government (PDF 251 kB).