ive never heard of a privet causing disease on other plants

they are just like any other plant/tree out there. they are only technically weeds on Aus because they are a prolifically growing exotic species. In Europe they are just average plants and nothing to cause a fuss over and be worried about as people seem to do here because they are labelled as '"weeds". Privet or as i say, ligustrum, which seems to prevent some people from giving me the weird looks most of the time, is probably one of my favorite species to work with. Fast growing, easily ramified, small foliage, hardy in most zones and has an almost inexhaustible amount of possible collected material which can be found with great trunks, twisted and winding with dead wood and great taper if you know where to look. They also have fantastic bark if you find a nice old specimen or the corky barked variants that can sometimes be found.
Id live to see more privet used in the future and and seen as just as important a tree as others are in the bonsai world such as Pups lovely example here which is quite a stunning piece.