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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-26 Daily Xml
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ANIMAL WELFARE

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:49): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Environment and Conservation a question about animal welfare.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The government has repeatedly expressed its commitment to animal welfare. The Rodeo Association estimates that nationally, from an average of 13,500 animal exposures a year, an average of eight animals are injured. At the same time, in December 2007 fires on Kangaroo Island burnt 75,000 hectares of national parks and led to the deaths of thousands of animals. Islanders have reported how thousands of kangaroos, wallabies and possums were found dead in the sea following the fires. These animals had jumped from 300-foot and 400-foot cliffs to their deaths. Thousands of dead birds were seen on the water.

Concerns have been raised that these animals perished because the fires in the national parks were not prevented and there were no burnt breaks to stop the fires, to slow the fires or to give the animals a chance to go somewhere that had been burnt two or three years previously.

Professional shooters who wanted to shoot koalas humanely in the trees in the line of the fire were ordered not to do so by departmental officers. These animals perished. I am informed that the Department for Environment and Heritage produced a bushfire plan for the island covering the period from 2004 to 2009. The plan failed to provide for protective measures in some areas and the plans made for other areas were not implemented. In the context of the Kangaroo Island fires of December 2007, my questions are:

1. Does the minister consider that her agency's bushfire plans for Kangaroo Island were sufficient and adequately implemented?

2. What policies or procedures does the department have in place to deal with the welfare of native fauna in peril during bushfire events?

3. Will the minister investigate whether her department, having the care and custody of native animals in national parks, effectively discharged its duties under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1985 during the fires on Kangaroo Island?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health) (14:51): The recent fires on Kangaroo Island, as with any fire anywhere, were of deep concern and I know that the loss of properties, lives and wildlife saddens us all, and my sympathies go to those families who were affected by those fires. In terms of fire management in our parks, the Department for Environment and Heritage has a fire management strategy that includes burning, and that has been part of our strategy for a number of years. Regarding the particular incident on Kangaroo Island, unfortunately, even though we have a fire management strategy that includes prescribed burning, I think something like eight or nine prescribed burns had been planned for Kangaroo Island in the past year and, of those planned prescribed burns, if I recall correctly, I believe we were able to achieve only one of them because of the adverse weather and drought conditions.

These are challenges for us, and we know that climate change also presents us with significant challenges. After every fire, DEH reviews the incident and uses all of that experience and knowledge in future planning. Clearly, the issue of our being able to complete the prescribed burns that we plan each year is important to us, particularly during drought conditions and, as I said, there are also climate change predictions that would suggest that these challenges could continue. So, DEH is looking at a range of alternative options such as winter burns.

Animal welfare is a very sensitive area. It is very disturbing when animals are injured from the effects of fire and smoke inhalation and, for those that survive, the after-effects of changes to their habitat with the subsequent lack of food means that some animals can then be left to starve. This provides particular challenges to us, and DEH worked very hard to manage those three facets of animal welfare post fire.

We cannot just allow people to run around with firearms shooting wild animals; it needs to be done in a well-managed and coordinated way. Although these things are very disturbing for people to see, nevertheless, DEH did have a plan which it enacted through the parks and also—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! We do not want everybody turned into Wyatt Earps on Kangaroo Island.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: It is really important that these activities are done in a professional way and are managed well. DEH did send in teams of people to assess the impact on wildlife and to destroy animals that were assessed as being too ill to recover or suffering in any adverse way. They do that in a very humane way. The advice I have been given is that they did that in a very timely way. It is a most unpleasant job but it was carried out particularly well.

I have been informed by the chief executive that, in terms of the allegations regarding professional shooters not being allowed to shoot koalas (the specific term that the member has raised), in fact, that issue has never been raised with him, so I am not too sure where the member received this information. The advice that I have from the chief executive is that the issue of professional shooters has not been raised with him. Perhaps it is a bit like some of the other facts and figures that members opposite ask about, where they make up the facts as they go along.

As I said, it is a very difficult job which is done extremely well and these people are to be congratulated for their efforts. Indeed, they put in a mammoth effort to ensure that the national parks were open at about Christmas time. There was an enormous amount of work that went into it, in order to reduce the impact on tourism over the Christmas and New Year spell. The efforts of the DEH teams, volunteers and the CFS are to be commended and acknowledged. It was a tremendous effort and, as I said, it enabled the opening up of most of the national parks and major tourist attractions prior to the Christmas-New Year season. Indeed, they were challenging times. As I said, the work that the DEH teams did in fighting fires, along with the CFS and other volunteers, is to be commended.

The PRESIDENT: I remind honourable members that we are 33 minutes into question time but we have had only three questions.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Those who ask the questions should keep them precise and those answering should get straight to the heart of the question.

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