Kangaroo Island, Feral Pigs

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (15:16): Supplementary: can the minister update the chamber as to where the feral pig eradication program is up to?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister, you did mention feral pigs.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:16): I did indeed mention feral pigs because it has been an area of great success. Members may recall that in South Australia self-sustaining populations of feral pigs infest the Far North bordering Queensland, the North East Pastoral district, the Riverland and, until recently–

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: —the western end of Kangaroo Island.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mrs Henderson and the Hon. Mr Hunter, the two whips, take it outside with your whips.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: As I said, and until recently the western end of Kangaroo Island. There are also records of small numbers of feral pigs in the Mid North, Mount Lofty Ranges and the South-East, and these reports stem from illegal releases for hunting. Landscape officers immediately addressed these incursions in collaboration with affected landholders.

There were between 5,000 and 10,000 feral pigs on Kangaroo Island before the devastating 2019-20 bushfires. One of the very few silver linings of the fires, if you can even call it that, was that it killed most of the feral pigs on the island. The Kangaroo Island Feral Pig Eradication Project started in the wake of the bushfires with funding under the disaster recovery funding arrangements. In total, $6 million has been provided over three years to complete the eradication project.

PIRSA, in partnership with the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board, the Department for Environment and Water, Livestock SA, Agriculture Kangaroo Island and several other non-government organisations, has been spending about $1.9 million each year on the Kangaroo Island feral pig eradication. The most recent update I have says that the project has removed 878 feral pigs since 2020.

The emergency thermal assisted aerial culling operation has been a key part of this, and also the use of detector dogs as an emergency response is part of finding and eradicating any remaining feral pigs. Surveillance will be continuing for the next 12 months because even if we have reasonable confidence that there are no feral pigs left when we get to that stage, it is important to continue the surveillance because a lot of the pigs are in very deep scrubland, dense bushland, and therefore can escape the—

The Hon. N.J. Centofanti interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: You asked me for information about it and now you are not interested. Shame on you. Sir, I am providing the update and now there are still complaints. As I was saying before I was interrupted, that surveillance is an important part of continuing to ensure that we have indeed eradicated all of the pigs. Dense scrubland or bushland can mean that the pigs may have escaped surveillance and so ongoing surveillance is an incredibly important part of this. In terms of the devastation that can be caused by feral pigs—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister, conclude your remarks.

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Certainly. I am more than happy to do so. The importance of eradicating feral animals, such as feral pigs, from Kangaroo Island is an important priority and I am very glad that our government has continued to support it.