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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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Parliamentary Committees

NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: FOXES

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (11:02): I move:

That the 77th report of the committee, entitled 'Foxes—Hunting for the Right Solution', be noted.

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

The SPEAKER: Member for Ashford, it is—

The Hon. S.W. KEY: Sorry, the member for Stuart, I beg your pardon, sir. The member for Stuart brought to the committee some dramatic photographs sent to him by the shooter Mr Casey McCallum and taken from the Glendambo station in the electorate of Stuart. Many of you, no doubt, will see these pictures after they have been published on the internet. These photographs show large numbers of foxes feasting on kangaroo entrails during the night time shoot and a separate photo shows more than 50 dead foxes hanging and laid out from Mr McCallum's Toyota ute after a period where Mr McCallum turned his attention to shooting some of the foxes that were interfering with his commercial kangaroo shooting activities.

These photos by Mr McCallum dramatically illustrate the scale of problems presented by graziers in the Mid and Upper North of South Australia. As well as foxes, dingoes and wild dogs are increasingly 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 predominate.

Mrs Robyn Geraghty (member for Torrens and Natural Resources Committee member) also brought the issue of foxes to the committee on behalf of her constituents, emphasising the increasing impacts of foxes in urban areas. Foxes are commonly seen in metropolitan Adelaide—for example, the Torrens Linear Park during day and at night. The committee also took evidence from the member for Bragg. She was seeking to address the apparent explosion in the fox population in her electorate and the Adelaide Hills. The committee heard from officers of Biosecurity SA and from the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Committee and the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, which maintain an interest in the issue.

To ensure a thorough understanding of the problem, the committee undertook a literature review on fox management. Despite this report not being a result of an official inquiry, the committee made five recommendations, based on the evidence received. First, members are convinced that the problem of foxes needs to be dealt with on 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 that there be more research and development into measures for controlling foxes; this may have to be some sort of biological control.

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 the current baiting arrangements, allowing baiting closer to home in metropolitan areas, with neighbours' consent. The committee heard that the current guidelines 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 those trialled in Sydney. Fifthly, members consider that there is a strong argument for 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, wild dogs, including dingoes, which also present similar problems for natural resource managers working in the urban and non-urban environments.

I thank all those who gave assistance to the committee with this report. The committee heard evidence from seven witnesses, and the committee extends its thanks for their appearance before the committee. I also commend the members of the committee for their contribution: 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, the Hon. Russell Wortley MLC, and former committee member the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars.

I take this opportunity to commend the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars for his contribution to our committee. He is sadly missed, but we are making sure that we keep him close to the committee because we have appreciated his contribution. Finally, I thank the members of the parliamentary staff for their assistance. I commend this report to the house.

Mr PEGLER (Mount Gambier) (11:08): I will not go back over what our very able Presiding Member, the member for Ashford, has said in relation to this report, but I point out that, in my own area, we do a lot of baiting. All our neighbours, the national parks and the forests all get together; we do a lot of baiting. We reduce the number of foxes dramatically but for only a few weeks, and then they move in again. As far as I am concerned, I believe that all our efforts should be put into developing some form of biological control because I believe that is the only way we will be able to ever control foxes—and, whilst we are doing that, we should also be doing the same for cats. I certainly support this report.

Mr GOLDSWORTHY (Kavel) (11:09): I am pleased to make some comments in relation to the report that has been moved by the member for Ashford, the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee. Can I say at the outset that I commend the member for Stuart. As the member for Ashford highlighted in her contribution, the member for Stuart, a good local member who is across all the issues in his electorate, brought this matter to the committee for investigation. Obviously, a report has been produced and moved for consideration in the house today.

I come to this issue with some personal experience, having grown up living on a farming property in the Adelaide Hills. I also own a very small hobby farm with only a few hectares in the Adelaide Hills and I run a very small number of sheep on this block. Ever since I was a young child I clearly have memories of the issue of controlling foxes and the inherent damage they do to sheep. I still have pretty strong memories from when I was a small child.

Baiting and poisoning foxes has been a method of controlling foxes over many years. As a young lad I remember that the poison strychnine was used as a bait to kill foxes. My grandfather had a packet of strychnine kept, arguably safely in those days, high up in the cupboard in one of our farm sheds. Obviously, we know that things have changed over the years and strychnine cannot be held by just everybody and anybody and, over the decades since, the poison 1080 has been developed. It is my opinion, having had some experience in shooting foxes, baiting foxes and trapping foxes, that baiting is the most effective and efficient way to manage fox numbers, particularly in the Adelaide Hills.

Over the years we have seen more housing being constructed in the Hills so it is difficult to go out and look to shoot foxes. I know I have seen my neighbours down in their paddock at night-time with a spotlight shining around and obviously looking for foxes. However, it is difficult because obviously you have to be critically aware of where your line of fire is and that you are not looking to shoot towards a dwelling. There are some real constraints, I believe, in using that form of control for fox numbers, particularly in the Adelaide Hills region. As I said, that is where I live and is the constituency that I represent.

Over recent times I have gone to the local natural resource management office looking at methods to trap foxes. You can pay a deposit for the trap (which is a wire trap with a trapdoor) but I have to say that I persevered with that method for several weeks, if not months, but to no avail. I caught a couple of crows in the trap, and obviously freed them and let them go, but I have never trapped a fox. It has been my experience that baiting is the most efficient and effective measure to control fox numbers.

I have read the report that the committee has presented and, as the member for Ashford said, it has provided five recommendations. I think some of the recommendations are perhaps more relevant than others. The issue of developing a policy that explores the potential for introducing a bounty is worthy of some further consideration. I note in the report on pages 8 and 9 there were some quotes and contributions from committee members and, I presume, people giving evidence, concerning the potential for introducing a bounty on foxes.

I notice recommendation 3 talks about amending baiting guidelines so as to facilitate private landowners being able to bait in close proximity to their homes. I note the member for Ashford, in her contribution, raised this issue. At the moment, the protocols and practices are that you cannot lay baits within 500 metres of a home dwelling. In the Adelaide Hills, with the relatively close proximity of residences, that is not without its difficulties.

As I said at the outset of my contribution, I live on a very small area of land in the Hills—too small, actually, to be able to bait on my own so I join with my neighbours who have considerably more land than me. Working through the issue with the local NRM office, I have been able to lay baits with the written permission of my neighbour on their property because there is a certain area within their property that is 500 metres in distance from the nearest home residence.

There are some strict protocols and practices in place to manage baiting. 1080 is a poison which is extremely lethal to dogs. There is not much chance of survival, I am advised, if a dog takes a 1080 bait, and I have talked to my colleague, the member for Morphett, about this. So the protocols are that you need to advise all of your neighbours, which I do. You have got to run a schedule and write down on that schedule who you have contacted, when, how and so on. So there are strict protocols in place for the management of 1080. I certainly support the continuation of that method of fox control because of my experience, as I said, living in the Adelaide Hills on a small block and growing up on a rural farming property where one of our main operations was breeding prime lambs. Baiting is currently the most effective control of foxes.

I was concerned two or so years ago when there were some media reports and some talks and discussion in relation to ceasing the laying of 1080 baits in government-owned land. The government owns vast tracts of land right around the state, particularly in the Adelaide Hills. Forestry SA owns a significant area of land in the Hills district and so does SA Water with, obviously, the reservoirs and the land that surrounds the reservoirs in the Hills district. It was a concern that the media was reporting that there was some discussion on stopping the laying of baits in government-owned land areas and, to my knowledge, that has not occurred. From my perspective, I strongly support the continuation of those programs on government-owned land. They are a real refuge, a real harbour, if you like, for fox numbers and for fox breeding.

Talking about reservoir-owned land, we were driving down Lower North East Road late one afternoon and on the footpath, next door to the Hope Valley Reservoir land, a fox was trotting along. A fox was trotting along a footpath on a main arterial road! I said to my wife and my children, 'Have a look at this!' Here was a fox trotting along right in the middle of suburbia. I think that highlights the example that government-owned land is a real refuge, a real breeding area for foxes. I am pleased that the committee has seen fit to investigate this issue. In terms of recommendation 5, that the parliament establishes a joint select committee, I certainly support that.

The Hon. L.R. BREUER (Giles) (11:18): My contribution, like me, will be brief and short. In my 15 years of travelling around the outback of South Australia, I have never seen so many foxes as there currently are, and I have made this comment on almost every trip I have done recently—there are so many foxes.

We had a couple of very good years and there has been a rise in the number of kangaroos and other animals, but the fox numbers seem to be incredible; they are everywhere—all over the outback. I particularly support what the member for Kavel was saying about some of the parks and how they are right through there. My big concern is: what is happening to our native animals, what is happening to our native reptiles, etc., with those foxes around? So anything we can do to eradicate them, I think, is extremely important for South Australia.

Mr BROCK (Frome) (11:19): I will be very brief. Firstly, I would like to congratulate our Presiding Member, the member for Ashford, for her great leadership of this committee. I also commend and congratulate the other committee members on their inquiry into hunting for the right solution for foxes, and acknowledge the excellent job done by the committee staff. I also congratulate the member for Stuart for bringing this issue to the attention of the Natural Resources Committee.

I want to endorse the member for Mount Gambier's comments about the need to look at some biological control of foxes across the whole of the state. I can also speak from experience; when I used to live at Port Augusta and travel north, I used to see lots and lots of foxes up there, and the amount of damage that they do to livestock, particularly sheep and poultry. A lot of the people in the urban areas of the cities do not understand the damage that is caused.

The report has highlighted that the Natural Resources Management Board has spent nearly $700,000 across the whole of the state just in the management of fox control; that is only what we know. There has been hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to the livelihood and success of graziers and farmers out there.

One of the things that I am finding, as other members have mentioned, is that foxes are coming back into urban areas. Just outside of Brinkworth, which is a small community in my electorate, one farmer has placed around 35 dead foxes on a fence; each time he shoots or baits one, he hangs it over the fence as a warning to other foxes in the area. I see a lot of foxes when I travel to and from Adelaide from my hometown of Port Pirie, and I have also seen a couple as I get into Adelaide, so they are not only in the country areas.

Certainly, the damage that has been outlined in the Natural Resources Management Committee report is one issue. The other is the damage and loss of income for graziers and farmers, and those people who are affected, as well as the heartbreak of seeing some of their sheep and livestock being mauled by foxes.

We can deal with this problem in different ways. I know about baiting and shooting, but, as the member for Mount Gambier has indicated, I think we need to look at biological control to make certain that we control these foxes in the long term. I certainly commend the report to the house, and congratulate all the committee members, and in particular our Presiding Member, the member for Ashford.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (11:22): I, too, rise to support the Natural Resources Committee, and also commend the good work of that committee, as chaired by the member for Ashford. Foxes are a real issue in my electorate of Chaffey. There are considerable farming enterprises in the Riverland and the Mallee. While we have only a small livestock industry, as is the nature of the country up there, fox numbers are at an all time high in the irrigated settled areas.

I think it is no surprise to anyone that it is all about the food chain and the breeding cycle. Over the last couple of years we have had significant rainfall events and high rivers. It has been a long-term breeding season, and obviously foxes are not exempt from that.

I have had a lifelong association with foxes. I was born into a dryland and cereal property in the South-East, and moved up to the Riverland as a young adult—as I still am! It is about dealing with foxes, and I think one of the things that was instilled in me from very early on was how cunning foxes are and just what they can actually do. They almost have an instinct very similar to humans, as shown, in many instances, by their ability to outsmart humans.

My first encounter with foxes was very visual. I went out to the chook yard to collect the eggs, which is always a great exercise for any young farm sibling, and saw that the foxes had either jumped the fence, climbed the fence or gone under the fence. In some cases, I have heard of foxes undoing the lock on the gate, and in they go. It is not always about the foxes looking at what they are going to eat: it is about the destruction that they cause. I guess it is an insight into the nature of a fox.

I have touched on the high numbers. Particularly in the irrigated areas in Chaffey, it is nothing surprising to be driving along one of the roads with irrigated horticulture both sides and see dead foxes on the road, foxes crossing the road and foxes sitting back off the road a little bit just waiting for an opportune time to cross the road, and that is of real concern. It highlights the numbers and that they are out there breeding and looking for food, and it is always, I guess, to the detriment of, mostly, farming. That is what they impact on.

I take note of some of the ways we can deal with foxes. I picked up on the comments of the member for Mount Gambier that we have to perhaps look at a sterilisation program or ways we can combat their breeding cycle, and I think that is an excellent opportunity that I do not think has been addressed. The nature of the farmer has been to shoot or bait foxes. It is very hard to run one over, I have to tell you. You normally have to bedazzle them in the middle of the night, or by accident.

My background of living on farms and managing farm properties has always involved a spotlighting exercise, if you like. I have been out on numerous occasions and we have claimed 20 or 25. I know that my record for a night was 41 foxes. That is a significant number, and it demonstrates the numbers that were out there at the time. I might like to add that that was back in the 1980s, but I think that we are heading into that breeding cycle of foxes.

We need to look at those sterilisation programs, and we need to consider how hunting impacts on them and what effects poisoning or baiting programs have on foxes. I have been part of many baiting programs and there is a downside to them, that is, off-target impacts, whether it is dogs—domestic dogs or wild dogs. You cannot throw a blanket over whether you have the right target. It is also about birds, and that off-target can be that a fox has eaten a bait and it has residual impact on that fox, birds come along looking for food and, next minute, they are an off-target casualty.

The poison has changed for the better over the years. Once upon a time, you would do a couple of neutral runs of wheat or grain and then you would run out that 1080-laced grain to target the foxes but, over recent years, we have looked at different carriers of the poison. I know that we have used carrot and vegetable-based carriers for the poison and it has had a good impact, but we still are dealing with that off-target impact.

Some of the other impacts the foxes are having include damage to the native fauna. They really do have an impact, whether they are stripping bark off trees or digging holes around the bases of trees looking for a cooler habitat for either living or breeding.

Mr Pegler interjecting:

Mr WHETSTONE: Yes, and particularly up in my electorate, the Mallee fowl. The biggest impact on Mallee fowl is not humans and it is not people interfering with their nests: it is foxes. So, I think both myself and the member for Mount Gambier have similar issues with the impact on native fauna and flora.

Some of the visual impacts that still plague me is watching foxes drag down young lambs and, in some cases, a group of foxes trying to tackle young calves, newborn calves. That is something that has lived with me forever. That is why, as a farmer who has experienced the damage that foxes can do, I have an absolute hatred for them because of their impact but also the visual impact of exactly what they do. Watching them round up and drag the young and vulnerable livestock to the ground is something that has really had an impact on me forever.

Do we look at a bounty? I notice the member for Kavel touched on the bounty. It is something that perhaps needs to be debated. It has been a part of our culture over time, whether we have a bounty on foxes or whether we have a bounty, as they do in Victoria, on dogs. I think we need to have a debate on what the benefit of a bounty will be. Just on that, I think it is about a commitment. I think the commitment and the energy we need to put in there is about the biological control, it is about whether the sterilisation programs can have an impact and reduce that off-target impact, and that is probably where the debate needs to be headed.

The fox is an animal that I would like to see the many breeding cycles of reduced. The only way we are going to do that is by addressing the breeding cycle. Biological control seems to be a way that we can better address that because, in essence, it does not impact on the flora and fauna, it does not impact on some of our endangered species and it does not impact on our livelihoods. Livestock is, at the moment, a high value commodity and I would like to think that the Natural Resources Committee will be quite flexible on how we address that. I commend the Natural Resources Committee for looking into the control of foxes and I look forward to its findings.

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (11:32): I want to make a brief contribution on this because I was an ex-chair of the Invertebrate Pest Management Board, which later became the Animal and Plant Control Board and which now of course is the NRM board. In my younger days we were very active in relation to foxes, realising that it is an introduced species (a feral species) to Australia. Over the years it has been the subject of many a discussion in this place, in fact my own father used to discuss it, particularly the use of some of the more difficult things like baiting with 1080 and things like that. What we had back then was a bounty. We had this bounty that was discussed by the member for Chaffey. As we got the foxes we would cut the tails off. I think it was $10 a tail, so you could pay for your ammunition and whatever.

Mr Treloar: Put it on the car aerial.

Mr VENNING: That is right, put them on the aerial. You would gather them up and you were paid. That still happens in Victoria, and I just wonder how many South Australian foxes are ending up in the Victorian bounty system. It is amazing they have allowed it because we have a lot of foxes that sit on the border at the South-East. It is quite a difficult situation, particularly with day old lambs. I can remember in my childhood it was quite a yearly ritual that about a month before the lambs were due to drop we would be out there fox shooting. We would make four or five sorties in the utility, racing around the paddocks at night with a spotlight, particularly along the waterways, shooting the foxes. We never seemed to get the numbers down. They seemed to hold their numbers. As somebody said earlier, foxes are a very cunning animal. You have to be very quick and very smart to outsmart them.

When I became a member of parliament some members of this house came up to my property. I will name one, the Hon. John Quirke, who would come to the farm and get on the back of the ute and away we would go. It was a real sport and quite entertaining to see the Hon. Mr Quirke not only with his shotguns and a couple of mates, but then he would come back with a couple of Colt six shooters. My God, I will never forget that. It was quite an entertaining time.

Controlling foxes has been part of our lives for a long, long time. For farmers the lambs are the biggest target. Foxes kill lambs and they also kill chickens. The saddest thing about chickens is that they just bite their heads off. They do not eat the chicken; they just bite their heads off, suck their blood and leave it there. You have to be very clever to keep them out of your chook house. You really have to dig the wire into the ground because they will get in there. Foxes are very wily and they will outsmart you unless you go to a lot of trouble.

The solution to it is very difficult. I am not sure whether the solution is what the member the Chaffey was saying about sterilising. I think that could be rather difficult. I do not know how you would go sterilising a fox. We are certainly looking for the right solution. We also had a campaign of destroying all the burrows and hides. That is a very effective way. In the old days we used to go around and get rid of all the fox burrows. We used to use a product called—and I say it cautiously—lavacide. I am lucky to be here because I got a dose of that as a youngster. My father very carefully hid it in the rolls of netting so that I could not get to it, but I got to it and undid the cap. One sniff of it, and some would say it has affected me still. These are the chemicals that were used for—

Mr Whetstone: Strychnine?

Mr VENNING: No, it was a gas. They put it down the burrows on a piece of cloth and then filled in the burrow; it was very effective. I think a more humane way used in recent times is using whistlers, which is quite unusual. You get in a bloke who is a professional whistler and he has this tin whistle and he walks along the watercourse with a shotgun and whistles. It is amazing because the foxes are so curious they will stick their heads up every time and, bang! And it's usually about a 95 per cent effective rate. The whistler is amazing because the fox just cannot resist. I would give you a demonstration, sir, but not in here because demonstrations are not kosher. Foxes are foxy, as we would say. We often say that about a person, that person is very foxy, because they are extremely cunning.

Mr Treloar: You're a silver fox.

Mr VENNING: I'm a silver fox? I don't think so. They used to wear fox as a fur. I cannot see any reason why we do not strip the fur because they are an introduced feral animal. I do not understand because in the old days it was quite 'with it' to wear your fox. One thing I can tell you is that skinning a fox is not a pleasant experience; in fact, they stink. I have memories of that; it is an absolutely evil smell. I do look forward to reading the report in detail. I have not looked at the recommendations but I am pleased that the committee did pick it up because it is a continuing problem, particularly today when environmentalists are watching very carefully, particularly the use of baits. I can understand the use of baits. As the member of the Chaffey said, the off target damage is a worry when using baits, particularly for birds, so you bury the baits, but it has been very effective.

I have had a lot of complaints in my electorate where people abut national parks, and the foxes living in the parks come out into the adjoining property and devastate the farmer's sheep and land; so, they would then bait the fence lines around these parks. That was happening 10 years ago, and I am not sure that it still is, but it is a delicate issue. I am pleased that the committee, as this committee does under this chairmanship, comes up with some very good subjects and puts an issue before the parliament. I look forward to reading it in detail and then looking at the recommendations.

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (11:39): Obviously, I support the report and agree with the comments that have been raised here today. The one thing that does concern me is when we talk about using a biological method of resolving the issue. I appreciate that baiting can also have other detrimental effects, but biological resolutions to any matter cause me some concern; the first thing that comes to mind is the cane toad, so I think that we, or whoever is going to take this up, might look at some other alternative method. I think some of the biological pests that have been introduced to control one issue have raised more issues for us to deal with.

Mr Whetstone: Sterilisation, not biological.

Mrs GERAGHTY: Sorry?

Mr Whetstone: Maybe sterilisation.

Mrs GERAGHTY: No, I think they tried that with the koalas and that did not work either.

Mr Whetstone: And very expensive.

Mrs GERAGHTY: And very expensive, yes.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (11:40): I, too, will make a contribution on this, and I duly note the 77th report of the Natural Resources Committee and congratulate them and their chairman, of course, on the work they have done in regard to foxes.

Mr Venning interjecting:

Mr TRELOAR: Good chairmanship, I hear. I, too, as a country member fully understand the impact that foxes, which of course are an introduced species and a feral animal, can have not just on the profitability of a grazing enterprise but also on the broader native fauna that exist across the state. They are a feral animal and a nuisance. They have consistently had high numbers over many years and do have an impact. As a grazier in previous employment, I was well aware of the impact the foxes had on our sheep numbers, particularly at lambing time.

I was just talking with the member for Kavel about the fact that foxes do not always target lambs just to eat them but in fact will kill just for the sake of killing at times. The member for Schubert has brought up the havoc they wreak on the chook yards around the state. Of course, there is nothing worse than losing a whole heap of chooks to a fox.

Historically, farmers and landowners have baited, but they have also shot foxes. As a boy, I remember going out night after night, often on very cold evenings, to try to shoot some foxes, which we did generally with a shotgun and a spotlight. A bit of whistling went on—that is, to whistle the foxes up close. In fact, some neighbours of mine were so successful in whistling up a fox that one night they had to shoo it away a bit so they could shoot it, so it is an effective strategy for attracting foxes. We are flippant and laugh about these things, but the fox does have a very serious impact.

In more recent years, baiting has been a really good strategy, and in the old days the pest plant board would facilitate a fox-baiting program in our district. In later years, the NRM board has coordinated the baiting program. I have to say that on Eyre Peninsula that has been remarkably successful. It has had good uptake from landowners, it has been strategic, and it has been timely, so that over a short period of time a large number of landowners (hopefully, almost all of them) undertake a fox-baiting program. That targeted and timely strategy has been very effective.

The effectiveness of that program really hit home to me a few years ago when I was driving down a lonely country lane and saw for the very first time in my life in our neighbourhood an echidna. I had never seen an echidna in my area up until the fox-baiting program began—so there lies the success, I think. It was a delight to see the echidna.

Of course, once upon a time, fox fur had some value. One of the reasons as teenagers we would go spotlighting was to supplement our pocket money, and often a fox fur would be worth $20, $30 or $40. As the member for Schubert quite rightly said, it was quite a task to skin a fox, and all sorts of weird and wonderful techniques were invented to make the skinning process easier. One of our favourites was pricking the hind leg of a fox once it was dead, inserting compressed air under the skin and separating the skin from the carcass. The idea was to make the skinning process easier; it never seemed to work that way. It was spectacular in a gruesome sort of way to see a fox blown up, but it did not make the skinning process any easier. Never mind, we persisted and made a little bit of money.

I do know that the local wool buyer in Port Lincoln still has a wall full of fox furs which he had bought when it was profitable to do so. Unfortunately the resale value dried up completely, for whatever reason, but we won't go into that here today. However, he has managed to keep hold of these furs in the rather vain hope that one day they might be worth something again. You never know. So, congratulations to the committee. I was very pleased to get a fox around my house the other night because he, without a doubt, had been responsible for the removal of a number of boots from our back door.

Members interjecting:

Mr TRELOAR: They do that, don't they.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: It must be a fox in socks!

Mr TRELOAR: Fox in socks. Well, in fact, I went out the back door one weekend—because I only work on the farm on weekends—

Members interjecting:

Mr TRELOAR: At best. In fact, I just went to get the eggs and there was no sign of my boots and I was blaming the kids and everyone else and eventually I found one somewhere else under a tree and obviously a fox had taken them. In fact, a fox was seen some kilometres away with one of my boots in its mouth, so it does happen. I was very pleased to be able to get that fox and—

Mrs Geraghty: Did you get the boot back?

Mr TRELOAR: No, I have got one boot and one boot is not much good, of course. I digress. I congratulate the committee on its work—

Mr Pegler: We all do.

Mr TRELOAR: We all do, yes—and the strategies, of course, that are so important in combating this feral animal that is such a nuisance to wildlife and businesses around the state. There will be no silver bullet with regard to the control of these animals—excuse the pun—but I think it is very important that we continue our efforts in an attempt to maintain low numbers of this feral animal.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (11:47): I thank the committee for the production of their report, dated 19 February 2013. I was pleased to give evidence to this inquiry, as this problem is something I have found is quite significant in my electorate, and I was pleased it was reported in this response that we have an urban problem with foxes, and certainly in the eastern part of my electorate in the Adelaide Hills there is a serious problem with the abundance of foxes.

I just note that on page 22 I am described, as a witness, as 'the member for Davenport.' I would just ask that that be corrected. But apart from that, the only disappointing thing about this report is the suggestion that there be further investigations and so on. I feel that the people who are on this committee are very well qualified to have received the evidence and put the advice to government and it is now time for the government to get on with the job.

I will say that I have since spoken to the chair of the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board when I attended a recent meeting—that is my local NRM Board—and at that meeting I confirmed the urgent need for there to be a regional action, at various times. I mean, bear in mind, as I said to the committee, I know nothing about foxes. I have spent the last three years trailing one fox in particular, but this is a different sort of problem, and this problem for these electorates, and in my electorate, is of the furry kind, and they are a problem and they need to be dealt with.

Now, the 1080 option is one that is still unavailable. The reason it is a problem in peri-urban areas is that there is a 500 metre limit, or minimum distance from the boundary to be able to place the baits, and so on small holdings it is near impossible to be able to find a place that will lure the fox, that is concealed sufficiently, that is not going to inadvertently kill the neighbour's dog. So, it is a serious problem.

In my view, one action the NRM can take immediately is to give notice and, with the support of the community, approve golf clubs, SA Water land—large parts of which traverse these areas in the Adelaide Hills—to have a regional action, as has been identified. Some regional action in New South Wales has been reported, and it talks about having the cooperation of local people. On the responses I have had in my own electorate, there is a very clear wish for the people to have this issue resolved. They are sick of having their chicken coops raided, and this is a major problem in the area.

I urge the NRMs particularly to take up the challenge and the issues that have been identified. I am not going to make any comment in relation to bounties; that will be a matter for others to deal with because, frankly, bounty options in peri-urban areas are extremely limited, if viable at all, but in other parts of the state which are represented by others around me this would probably be a very good option. We have a problem now, there is an identified way of managing it, and we ought to get on with the job and ensure that funds are allocated. The 1080 under prescribed distribution is available. Let's get on with the job.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (11:51): I will make a few brief points. I hear members calling for the NRM to do something about this issue, and I support that, but often we hear criticism of the NRM boards for not doing things, or not doing enough. Pest control and pest plant control is one of their responsibilities, and I think it is important that NRM boards continue to fulfil the role for which they were established.

My solution usually for foxes is the Winchester one; however, you will never get rid of foxes just by shooting or even by baiting, but you will get the numbers down. Members have referred to bounties, and Victoria has gone down the path of a bounty, but there is some criticism of that. When Dame Roma Mitchell was Governor, I recall that foxes were living in the grounds of Government House, and we often see them still around the city and suburban areas because they are very adept at getting food from anywhere.

I think the long-term solution is genetic engineering. I believe the only way you will be able to deal with pest plants and pest animals in the long term is through genetic engineering, and that is where I think the focus should be. It is beyond the resources of the NRM, but I think governments at all levels should be putting more money into research, particularly genetic engineering to deal with pest plants and pest animals, including foxes.

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (11:52): I thank all members for their contributions, and I think it is obvious that there is great support in this house for the five recommendations the Natural Resources Committee has put forward. I seek the house's support in the report being noted.

Motion carried.

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