A $20 million budget boost will create a new invasive species research centre based in Canberra, called the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions.
The new entity will build on the work of the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) which has united scientists in an effort to minimise the impact of introduced and pest species on both the environment and industry.
The funding is part of a $1 billion Landcare package announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture and Water Resources minister, Barnaby Joyce.
Research dollars complement the government's investment in an ACT-based project to develop automated traps, dubbed Intelli-Traps, and broader national programs to develop thermal sensor and weed-spraying technologies for farmers and land managers.
The investment aims to curb the $620 million production losses a year caused by pest animals and estimated $4 billion a year in control costs and production losses due to weeds.
The new centre, set to begin on July 1 2017, would power research momentum and deliver benefit to Australians in all states and territories as well as the economy, said Invasive Animals CRC chief executive Andreas Glanznig said.
"We need to think big to win the battle against invasive species and this is why we are moving towards an integrated landscape scale approach to management," he said.
"The new research centre will continue to maintain the momentum developed through the Invasive Animals CRC and advance strategic control measures such as new rabbit biocontrol agents, new predator control tools, digital and genetic surveillance tools and more."
Part of the vision is develop technologies ready for the farm gate to better equip the community to assist.
ACT Parks and Conservation Service senior vertebrate pest officer, Oliver Orgill, said in the most damaging pest animals in the ACT region were rabbits, feral pigs and wild dogs.
He said the ACT government spent $350,000 annually on pest control measures and the Invasive Animals CRC had worked well in focusing research and arming states and territories with ready-to-roll strategies for programs.
Research dollars will soon be allocated to collaborative projects aimed at tackling billion-dollar pest animal and weed problems.
The Invasive Animals CRC, situated at the University of Canberra Bruce campus, was instrumental in testing the kangaroo contraceptive drug GonaCon.
Early findings laid the foundations for ACT government senior ecologist Claire Wimpenny's work developing a specialist dart to administer the vaccine without injuring the animal and to create a dye marker to ensure the native animals were not double-dosed.
The centre also tested the K5 strain calicivirus rabbit biocontrol before it was released at 600 sites across Australia, including in Canberra this year.
University of Canberra Professor of Wild Genetics Stephen Sarre's environmental DNA research had been funded by the CRC and he planned to bid for funding through the new centre to continue his work.
"There is a lot of work still to be done in this area of science, and probably not enough people doing it," he said. "But this federal funding is a good step in the right direction."