Parliamentary Committees

NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: FOXES

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (16:00): I move:

That the 77^th report of the committee, on foxes, be noted.

The committee's interest in foxes was instigated by committee member and member for Stuart, Mr Dan van Holst Pellekaan MP, in response to complaints from constituents (including a number of sheep farmers) about increasing fox problems in the Mid North and north of the state. Sheep are, of course, particularly vulnerable to fox attack.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan brought to the committee some dramatic photos sent to him by a professional shooter, Mr Casey McCallum, and taken on Glendambo Station in the electorate of Stuart. Many of you would have no doubt seen these pictures after they were widely published on the internet. These photographs show large numbers of foxes feasting on kangaroo entrails during a night-time shoot and a separate photo shows more than 50 dead foxes hanging from and laid out in front of Mr McCallum's Toyota ute after a short period where Mr McCallum turned his attention to shooting some of the foxes that were interfering with his commercial kangaroo activities.

These photos of Mr McCallum's dramatically illustrate the scale of the problems presently faced by graziers in the Mid and Far North of South Australia. As well as foxes, increasingly, dingoes and wild dogs are infiltrating south of the dog fence and preying on sheep. Interestingly, foxes are not presently found in large numbers north of the dog fence where dingoes and wild dogs dominate.

Mrs Robyn Geraghty MP (member for Torrens and a Natural Resources Committee member) also brought the issue of foxes to the committee on behalf of her constituents, emphasising the increasing impact of foxes in urban areas. Foxes are commonly seen in metropolitan Adelaide, for example, at the Torrens Linear Park, both in daylight hours and at night. The committee also took evidence from Ms Vickie Chapman MP (member for Bragg). The member for Bragg was seeking to address an apparent explosion in the fox population in her Adelaide Hills electorate.

The committee also heard from officers of Biosecurity SA and the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board (Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources) both of which maintain an interest in the issue. To ensure a thorough understanding of the problems, the committee also undertook a literature review on fox management.

Despite this report not being the result of an official inquiry, the committee has made five recommendations based on the evidence received. Firstly, members are convinced that the problem of foxes needs to be dealt with at a national scale given that foxes do not respect state or regional boundaries. Baiting and shooting alone are not enough to eliminate foxes and more comprehensive controls are needed. The committee has recommended more research and development into measures for controlling foxes. It may be that some sort of biological control is needed.

Secondly, the committee would like to see some consideration given to the use of fox bounties for landholders to complement programs already in use, with the proviso that such a policy does not encourage trespass or shooting without permission. Thirdly, the committee recommended amendments to current baiting arrangements allowing baiting closer to homes in non-metropolitan areas with neighbours' agreement. The committee heard that current guidelines can make it difficult for smaller landholders to bait effectively.

Fourthly, the committee has recommended a trial baiting program for foxes in urban areas similar to programs trialled in Sydney. Fifthly, members considered that there was a strong argument for the parliament to establish a joint select committee to further investigate foxes. In addition, the committee considered that this select committee could also look at feral cats and wild dogs (including dingoes) which also present similar problems for natural resource managers working in urban and non-urban environments.

I wish to thank all those who gave their time to assist the committee with this report. The committee heard evidence from seven witnesses and extends its thanks to them for their appearances. I also commend the members of the committee: the Presiding Member, Hon. Steph Key MP, Mr Geoff Brock MP, the Hon. Robert Brokenshire MLC, the Hon. John Dawkins MLC, Mrs Robyn Geraghty MP, Mr Lee Odenwalder MP, Mr Don Pegler MP, Mr Dan van Holst Pellekaan MP and former committee member, the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars MLC, for their contribution. All members of the committee have worked cooperatively throughout the course of the inquiry. I would also like to thank members of the parliamentary staff for their assistance. I commend the report to the council.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (16:05): I rise to support the motion moved by the Hon. Mr Wortley, who has recently returned to the committee. He has, of course, replaced you, Mr Acting President, on that committee. I am sure that when the Hon. Mr Wortley goes with us to Coober Pedy again, I will not have to keep him out of a mineshaft.

As the Hon. Mr Wortley indicated in his speech, this reference—not an official one but certainly a solid area of inquiry for the committee—was initiated by the member for Stuart, Mr Dan van Holst Pellekaan. He brought the particular problem with foxes in the north of the state to the attention of a number of members of parliament, not just to members on our committee. Of course, as the Hon. Mr Wortley has pointed out, both the member for Torrens (Mrs Geraghty) and the member for Bragg (Ms Chapman) have indicated their concern about the number of foxes in what we call peri-urban areas—on the fringe of the metropolitan area—and also in the linear park coming well into the metropolitan zone. In recent times I have heard that some residents well in the suburban areas have complained about losing their laying hens to foxes.

I have a bit of history in this area. In the previous government, I was a member of the Statutory Authorities Review Committee, which inquired into animal and plant control boards and soil boards. It was our strong recommendation that those boards be amalgamated. Of course, subsequently, after the change of government, the Rann government went further and created catchment boards and also now the NRM boards which, of course, have water and many other aspects within their gambit.

Unfortunately, one of the things we have seen over that period of time is that the concentration on foxes, rabbits and weed control has perhaps not had the focus that it did in earlier days. In many cases, the old animal and plant control boards were quite vigilant about foxes. This is something that concerns me. As the Hon. Mr Wortley pointed out, there are a number of recommendations, which I will not repeat here, but I thank him for pointing them out. I will, however, mention the recommendation from the committee that a joint select committee be established to look at not only fox control, but also the problem of keeping feral cats and wild dogs under control.

Last year I was on Kangaroo Island with the members for Finniss and Hammond, looking at the free-range egg industry there. While the people running those facilities were proud to say they could do certain things we cannot do on the mainland because there are no foxes, they also have an issue with very large feral cats. So, that is something I would support.

My great friend and colleague the Hon. Mr Lucas probably will not be that keen on the suggestion of a joint select committee because I do not think he is a great fan of joint committees in any sense. However, it was a suggestion of the committee that, rather than having a select committee of the Legislative Council as we have many of them running already (even the House of Assembly has, for them, rather large numbers of select committees at the moment), it was suggested that it be a joint select committee to examine these matters. With those words, I support the motion.

Motion carried.