It is "quite critical" the Otago Regional Council pushes ahead with its efforts to further the investigation of rabbit control methods as quickly as possible, Cr Stephen Woodhead said.
The council needed to show leadership and work with the community and industry, he said at a full council meeting this week.
He was commenting during a discussion of a report on council chief executive Graeme Martin and Regional Services group manager Jeff Donaldson's trip to Australia last month for an update on its rabbit control research.
The council proposed Mr Martin take the trip earlier this year after concerns were raised about the lack of impetus to find new rabbit management tools.
Mr Martin's conclusions from the trip included that immunity testing in New Zealand needed to be upgraded and that new rabbit control tools should be actively pursued with Australia.
While in Australia, the pair met Sydney-based landcare specialist Jen Quealy, who developed RabbitScan, a web-based tool for people to complete an information form on observed rabbit numbers, damage and locations.
It aimed to help farmers and conservationists consider the wider context of rabbit threats around sites of interest, with an emphasis on pre-emptive control.
He suggested the concept could be modified to use only formally-confirmed, consistent, and regularly updated data.
When comparing New Zealand and Australian progress on rabbit control, they found New Zealand rabbit control was driven by land production needs and regulatory control, while in Australia the driver was biodiversity and conservation in an unregulated environment.
Overall, there was still a high commonality of experience and understanding on both sides of the Tasman about rabbit control issues, Mr Martin said.
Cr Duncan Butcher said the information in the report should be circulated to farmers.
