Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:54): My adjournment debate is for the Minister for Agriculture. On Remembrance Day this month Parks Victoria released the draft management plan for the Grampians National Park for public consideration. One particular proposal has sent a shiver down the spine of many surrounding sheep graziers. The proposal I speak of is to reintroduce dingoes into the Grampians. This may not be a foremost proposal of the draft management plan, and in fairness to Parks Victoria the plan does acknowledge ‘the potential to cause community concerns due to possible conflicts with grazing’. However, the fact that such an ill-considered proposal has been made at all by our peak land custodian is cause for great concern. The introduction of dingoes into the Grampians would not constitute a possible conflict with grazing but rather a devastating and existential conflict with grazing. It is fantastical and wholly impractical to think that Parks Victoria could successfully contain a dingo population that interfaces with some of this state’s most productive grazing land, especially when one considers that an adult dingo’s hunting range is in the tens of kilometres.

What of the taxpayer costs and environmental impacts of fencing the entire park, as surely would be required if dingoes moved in? Furthermore, I have seen images of a sheep following a dingo attack. They were horrific beyond description. More than 50 sheep may be mauled at a time—that is $15 000 worth of livestock, not to mention the enormous implications for animal welfare. Dingo attacks on sheep are often gratuitous. Dingoes are known to prefer the taste of a single organ, and in so doing they disembowel sheep after sheep, leaving them to die an excruciatingly slow death.This is the reality for many hardworking farmers along the dingo fence in northern Australia. According to an ABC report, Adam Willis, a station manager near Woomera, South Australia, loses hundreds of sheep to mauling each year. He says the mental health impacts of dealing with the daily carnage are immense.

Livestock production creates employment, local investment and taxation revenue, without which Parks Victoria would not have the resources to engage in such ill-advised theoretical exercises such as this proposal. Damein Bell, the CEO of the local traditional owners Aboriginal corporation, said that we all need to work together to get the best outcomes and the new management plan must bring everyone into the tent. Therefore, in the spirit of working together, the action I seek is for the minister to reassure farmers that the potential impact on their livelihoods is considered and undertake that dingoes will not be introduced into the Grampians National Park. (Time expired)

The PRESIDENT: Members, you have to look at the clock.