Kangaroo Island Koalas

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Climate, Environment and Water. Is the minister aware of reports that koalas have died or been injured as a result of the clearance of timber plantations? If so, when did she first become aware of this? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr BATTY: Channel 7 reported yesterday that, due to clearance of blue gum plantations on Kangaroo Island, koalas have been killed and injured. It has also been reported that 'dozens of koalas have been killed or left for dead during logging of blue gum plantations in South Australia'.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (14:46): Yes, along with many members of the house and staff, I am well aware of the footage that was aired last night by Channel 7. I have done a follow-up interview with Channel 7 today, locally—because that was screened from Sydney—talking about this quite serious challenge.

I was made aware of some concerns towards the end of last year. I have to confirm which month; I think it might have been September that I received some correspondence. The department went and undertook some compliance activity and were unable to find that there hadn't been appropriate compliance. Given the footage that is now being presented, they are going back to do some more compliance work and to work with Kiland.

For people to understand, what happened is that there are these huge, as everybody would know, Tasmanian blue gum plantations that were encouraged by the John Howard tax scheme, which were ultimately unable to be treated as a proper plantation because, when the other side was in government, they were incapable of making a decision about getting the plantation timber off the island. So ultimately what has happened is there has been a decision to turn it back into agricultural land.

These are weeds; Tasmanian blue gums are not native to Kangaroo Island. They suck up water, they act as a monoculture and they are highly problematic in the fires—unfortunately, it's almost like a toxic waste spill. There are what are called wildlings, which is not from Game of Thrones but is actually the name of the spill of this species that has gone on to landholders' properties and along creek lines. The landscape board is desperately working to clear that out. They have become, of course, part of the habitat for koalas. While a number of koalas were killed during the fires, there are still thousands of koalas on Kangaroo Island; again, also not native to Kangaroo Island but introduced in the twenties by Europeans.

In the process of turning this into agricultural land, Kiland is trying to clear this, but—under the guidelines that have been agreed with the department, which I believe are also in place in the South-East, where of course koalas are extremely precious and rare—also make sure that there are koala spotters, there are tags put on the tree where a koala is, and then eight trees around are not to be cleared in order to keep that koala protected. That is a very reasonable approach. That footage suggests that that has not worked. It was extremely serious footage.

So the department is not only now working with Kiland but also seeing whether there is a RSPCA interaction here, because this could be regarded as cruelty to those animals, and they will be working through those processes together.

Make no mistake: everyone in the department takes this seriously. On the island, there are diverse views, understandably, about koalas as a species, because they weren't originally there and because there were at one point so many of them that they risked doing harm to the local environment. At the same time, we recognise how well-loved they are not just in Australia but across the world and also that they are in many ways a remnant population that is capable of producing more koalas to go to the Eastern States eventually, where they are at serious risk of becoming locally extinct.

This is a complex matter. For that reason, we are working on a koala management plan across the environment department and the landscape board. That management plan is not about managing this clearance. Management of clearance is already being undertaken, although there are serious questions about the compliance, but it is necessary in order to work out what to do about a precious species that is at the same time harmful.