Cross-Tasman weed science lands at Te Pae as AWC 2026 folds NZBI's NETS into one Christchurch conference

A trans-Tasman biosecurity gathering returns to New Zealand

The 24th Australasian Weeds Conference (AWC 2026) will be held in Otautahi Christchurch from 23 to 27 August 2026, at the Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre. The programme opens with a welcome function from 5:00 to 7:00pm on Sunday 23 August and closes on Thursday 27 August, according to the New Zealand Biosecurity Institute.

The conference runs under the theme "Collaboration Across Borders: Sharing knowledge for effective weed management," which the organisers say reflects the need to work across regions and disciplines to protect environments, economies and communities from invasive weeds.

Who runs it

AWC 2026 is jointly hosted by the Council of Australasian Weed Societies (CAWS), the New Zealand Biosecurity Institute (NZBI) and the New Zealand Plant Protection Society (NZPPS). The Australasian Weeds Conference is a long-running biennial series that alternates across the Tasman; the 23rd AWC was held in August 2024 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Queensland, per CAWS.

A notable structural feature of the 2026 edition is that it absorbs the NZBI's annual National Education and Training Seminar (NETS). NZBI states that its NETS2026 conference is being held in partnership with CAWS and NZPPS and, in recognition of that collaboration, is jointly promoted as the Australasian Weeds Conference 2026 — bringing two established sector events together under one roof.

Who it is for and what is on the programme

The organisers describe AWC 2026 as a cross-Tasman forum for practitioners, researchers, policy makers and land managers involved in weed research, biosecurity and environmental management across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. NZBI is explicit that the scope reaches beyond weeds alone: despite the conference title, concurrent sessions will cover other biosecurity topics, and abstracts were sought from across the whole biosecurity sector. The call for abstracts closed on 6 March 2026.

Te Pae Christchurch as the venue

Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre sits at 188 Oxford Terrace on the banks of the Otakaro Avon River, in the heart of the rebuilt central city. As context on the venue's scale, published venue information describes capacity for up to around 2,000 delegates, a 1,400-seat auditorium, a 3,600-square-metre exhibition hall and roughly 1,600 square metres of meeting rooms.

For delegate movement, the venue's central-city position places it within a compact CBD; venue and destination material notes a large stock of accommodation rooms within a short walk, with restaurants, retail and transport hubs nearby, and Christchurch Airport a short drive from the centre. A local attractions operator is also offering delegates discounted access to the Christchurch Gondola, punting on the Avon and the Botanic Gardens during the conference week — useful colour for accompanying-partner and social-programme planning.

Why it matters for NZ MICE

AWC 2026 is a genuine international association conference landing in Christchurch, drawing a specialist Australia-New Zealand-Pacific delegate base into Te Pae for a full working week. The decision to merge the biennial Australasian series with NZBI's national NETS seminar consolidates two audiences into a single larger event, a pattern that lifts delegate numbers, exhibition demand and mid-week accommodation nights in the Christchurch CBD, and reinforces the city's position for sector-specific primary-industry and biosecurity business events.