Kangaroo Island Koalas

The Hon. S.L. GAME (14:39): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Attorney-General, representing the environment minister, regarding plague proportions of koalas on Kangaroo Island.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.L. GAME: Kangaroo Island Mayor, Michael Pengilly, recently told local ABC Adelaide that Kangaroo Island summer bushfires of 2019-20 reduced koala numbers to about 10,000 but, since then, the numbers have increased back to approximately 20,000. He said the island is unable to sustain this population and, as a result, native vegetation is rapidly being destroyed, and koalas moving east across the island in search of food will soon begin starving.

A conservation group recently announced it would set up a 530-hectare koala sanctuary on Kangaroo Island; however, the mayor says this will do little to address the problem as the animals will eat out the blue gum plantation. During that same media segment, a spokesperson for the National Parks and Wildlife Service conservation group said no active population controls had been conducted on the island's koalas since 2019.

Over 200,000 tourists visit Kangaroo Island each year, with an estimated 60 per cent of those visitors from Europe. My questions to the environment minister are:

1. Will the government acknowledge that Kangaroo Island has a koala plague problem, and that action needs to be taken, including the consideration of a culling program before even more of the island's native vegetation is destroyed?

2. Does the government concede that previous attempts to control this problem by successive South Australian state governments haven't worked?

3. Does the government also concede that this failure to take effective long-term action in the past has been due in part to fear of negative feedback from the Greens and other conservation groups?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (14:41): I will be most pleased to take those extensive questions on notice, refer them to a minister in another place, and bring back a reply to the honourable member.