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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-04 Daily Xml
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Australian Biosecurity Awards

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (14:35): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development—sorry, Clare. Will the minister inform the chamber about the outcome of the recent Australian Biosecurity Awards?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:36): I thank the honourable member for her question. I think we have a number of excellent projects and people running them within our state, and it's important to be able to acknowledge them and give them that acknowledgement in public. I am delighted to update the chamber about the outcome of the Australian Biosecurity Awards and, more specifically, the success of the Feral Pig Eradication Program on Kangaroo Island.

The Australian Biosecurity Awards recognise individuals, groups and organisations that have shown a commitment to supporting and promoting Australia's biosecurity system—and biosecurity, of course, is incredibly important to our many agricultural, horticultural and other industries. The winners of these awards were announced in Canberra a fortnight ago, with Matt Korcz, a Kangaroo Island feral pig control coordinator, accepting the award on behalf of PIRSA.

I have had the opportunity to speak with Matt on a number of occasions when I have been on Kangaroo Island, and it is clear through speaking with him how passionate and dedicated he is, and his strong commitment to this critically important project. To be acknowledged on a national level is something worth highlighting, as countless hours of hard work have been undertaken to get this project to where it is today.

I have mentioned previously that, during the 2019-20 bushfires on Kangaroo Island, much of the feral pig population was destroyed, and it was estimated that prior to that there were 10,000 feral pigs on the island. Since the fires, it became clear that there was a real opportunity to completely eradicate the pest from the island once and for all.

The South Australian and commonwealth governments committed $4.5 million in funding the eradication program and, as a result of that, I understand 872 feral pigs were destroyed. The Malinauskas Labor government last year committed an additional funding amount of $191,000 to ensure the remaining feral pigs could be eradicated and that ongoing surveillance could be undertaken to ensure that eradication had been achieved and was maintained. Feral pigs cost the island's agricultural industry—through damage to pastures, grain, potato crops, and also defence lines and dams—close to $1 million a year.

As a result of the team's hard work, so well acknowledged through the awards, it is estimated there are only five feral pigs remaining on Kangaroo Island at last count, and over the next 2½ months the eradication team will be working on finishing the job, tracking down those final pigs using the aerial culling strategy along with the artificial intelligence camera network that has been established on the island. These cameras are running 24/7 and feed valuable information to the team to assist in locating these pests. Once the eradication efforts are complete, the team will transition to surveillance activities to ensure that there are no more feral pigs on the island.

It is wonderful that the dedicated team has been acknowledged on a national level, and I congratulate the team on this award. I look forward to being able to speak in this place once again soon to hopefully update you on the complete eradication of feral pigs from Kangaroo Island. Once again, I congratulate all the members of the team on this outstanding achievement.

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