Calicivirus

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:00): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. What has the response been to the advice to rabbit owners to vaccinate their pets before the new national release of the calicivirus?

The SPEAKER: I hope there will be some reference to the killer bunny of Caerbannog.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (15:00): I thank the member for the question. We put out a warning a couple of weeks ago ahead of tomorrow's release around Australia of the latest strain of the calicivirus—the virus, of course, that was first introduced into Australia in 1996. This is a new, more potent strain and one that we hope will clean up a lot of those wild rabbits out there that do about $206 million worth of damage each year to our agricultural lands, as well as placing under threat 306 vulnerable plant and animal species. We know that the rabbit is Australia's greatest vertebrate pest and that we need to take action against it.

I am pleased to say that responsible rabbit owners out there—pet rabbit owners—have actually heeded our advice and taken their rabbits along to the vet to get a vaccine. I have spoken to one vet who said that she is doing about four times the number of rabbit vaccinations she normally does. That is terrific news, but it has also sparked a lot of discussion amongst people whom I might describe more as conspiracy theorists, rather than as rabbit experts. In fact, one of these people put on my Facebook page, 'There are rabbits and there are rabbits.' I said, 'No, rabbits are rabbits.' She said, 'No, they're not. Next you will be saying hares are rabbits.' I said, 'No, I will never say that hares are rabbits, but rabbits are rabbits.' So, you can judge—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Exactly. I must say that most of the people I was having the discussion with on Facebook weren't actually South Australians. They were mainly from Byron Bay and Tasmania, and they had some outstanding theories on the way the world runs. I think what we need to do is probably set the record straight so that people who are responsible pet owners aren't concerned by these crazy claims. The vaccine does work against this latest strain of the calicivirus, so people can rest assured that it will work.

I must also say to the conspiracy theorists that, unlike your claims, the ability for K5, this latest strain, to jump species and kill dogs, cats, guinea pigs, sheep, pigs and even human beings isn't possible, so you can be safe in the knowledge that this won't kill anyone here or any of your other animals.

I picked up some interesting facts because my first Facebook post was so popular, with over 900 comments, that the next day I put out another one: #rabbitfacts. In Queensland, it is illegal to own a pet rabbit unless you are one of two things and then you can get a permit: (1) a scientist, and we expect that; the No. 2 profession to own a pet rabbit and have a permit for it is a magician. I put it on Facebook and these conspiracy theorists said, 'Now, you are just taking the—' and, 'Stop having a joke about the rabbits.' But it's true. It's an actual fact.

Then there was a story I linked to it from The Guardian, where some guy in Queensland was caught with a pet rabbit and told the coppers that it was a guinea pig. It was this big and had big floppy ears and he tried to tell the police it was a guinea pig.

I also want to say a couple of other things to the conspiracy theorists: the Great Wall of China was not built to keep the rabbits out, we can't build a wall and ask the rabbits to pay for it and there is no biological control that specifically targets politicians, which is what some of the Facebook people were hoping could work on me. I did love the little picture they did of me with the rabbit ears and the little finger up giving them the bird.