Kangaroo Island Sheep

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:06): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Will the minister update the chamber on the breeding of sterile sheep blowfly on Kangaroo Island?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:06): I thank the honourable member for his question. Just before I answer I would like to take the opportunity to correct the record. In a question earlier today I referred to a funding round closing in November-December. In fact, it opened in December and closed in February 2022.

Last week, I was pleased to visit Kangaroo Island, which has a global reputation as a pristine environment. I was joined by the local member of parliament representing Kangaroo Island, the hardworking member for Mawson, who of course is a tireless advocate for his region. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the steps taken by the government to ensure that the reputation of the island for being such a pristine environment will be further strengthened with a world-first dedicated sterile blowfly breeding facility to be built on the island to help eradicate sheep blowfly.

A brownfield site will be transformed into a state-of-the-art insect breeding centre, at which up to 50 million flies a week will be bred and irradiated to be sterile before release. Located at the Kangaroo Island Resource Recovery Centre and operational by mid-2023, I understand construction of the site will be starting shortly. It will be built from shipping containers and will be in place for up to five years. It can then be redeployed elsewhere within South Australia to continue the program. It is the aim of the Department of Primary Industries that in this time we will achieve complete eradication of sheep blowfly on Kangaroo Island.

While on the island I had the opportunity to head out to a farm in Duncan and meet with local farmer Jamie Heinrich. We went out and released thousands of sterile sheep blowfly in the open field. I want to thank Jamie for taking the time out of his day to show me around his farm and to talk to me about the benefits of the SIT blowfly technology and the need to continue to roll out this technology across the island.

Sheep blowfly is responsible for significant economic loss across the livestock industry in Australia, which is estimated to be roughly $284 million a year. Of course, along with that, it carries significant animal welfare issues, which everyone is keen to reduce or eliminate. If we can achieve complete eradication of sheep blowfly on Kangaroo Island we will see an economic benefit of around $3.6 million, which is what it is estimated the industry loses on Kangaroo Island from losses and management costs each year. So the stock losses would be reduced and the management costs would be reduced as well.

Currently, the flies are transported to Kangaroo Island via the ferry, so of course having a production facility on the island will mean logistically it is easier to increase the production and ensure that the rollout of the SIT technology when it is coming from the facility on Kangaroo Island will be much more streamlined. Local Kangaroo Island building company Kauppila Pty Ltd has been awarded the site works contract. Adelaide-based GAAS Shipping Containers will provide the modified shipping containers to build the mobile facility, and radiation equipment will be provided by Bio-Strategy Pty Ltd.

This project has been made possible through the local Economic Recovery Program funded by the Australian and South Australian governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. A total of $3.5 million was provided for the sterile blowfly facility, with additional funding provided by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions. I would also like to thank the PIRSA staff who have been involved with this and those I met last week on the island. I look forward to this facility opening and helping in this important matter.