Page 1555 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 31 March 2009
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practices which have put substantial swathes of these grasslands at risk. I think that we cannot ignore what could be called the elephant in the room—or perhaps the kangaroo in the room. We must draw attention to the abject failure over a very long period of the Department of Defence to effectively manage their land in the ACT. We had the terrible pantomime last year over the HMAS Belconnen naval transmission station and what went on there.
We have had reports, which are substantiated by Dr Cooper’s report here today, of substantial degradation in the Majura area, which is the responsibility of the Department of Defence. I am glad to see that, in the last few days, the Department of Defence, under the leadership of Dr Kelly, has seen the light. I hope that we will see an effective and humane way of dealing with the problem of overpopulation and superabundance of eastern grey kangaroos on navy and defence land generally.
But the failures of the Department of Defence are only one example; there are failures of land management across the territory, with regard to both land held by private leaseholders and land in public management. I think that we need to use the report on ACT native lowland grasslands by the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment to take stock of the situation and to improve what we do.
I encourage the government to respond effectively and quickly to this report so that we can find a way forward and also so that there are maximum opportunities for us to take advantage of any possible culling that needs to be done in the culling season. I know that people find it distasteful, but my responsibility as the shadow minister for the environment is to ensure that we have a balanced approach.
I applaud the Chief Minister for his approach to this over a number of years, and I reflect on some comments that he made last year—that it is easy for people to champion the eastern grey kangaroo; it is not so easy for people to champion more insignificant and less obvious endangered species. I think it is time that the people of the ACT were more concerned about the survival of the whole ecosystem rather than just one species which appears to be superabundant. I congratulate Dr Cooper on her report, and I look forward to the government’s response.
MS BURCH (Brindabella) (11.27): In the few moments I have to speak, I would like to concentrate on the issues relating to kangaroo management on our grasslands. Kangaroos are a highly visible and major part of the grassy ecosystems and of the ACT. They are Australia’s largest native herbivore and they have the capacity to dramatically change the condition and the habitat of our ecosystem. Of course, kangaroos also affect the people of Canberra, most often in a positive way. But they can also have a negative social and economic impact.
On 17 March the government released a draft ACT kangaroo management plan, and input from the community and stakeholder groups is being sought as the plan is finalised. This is a science-based plan that appraises the environmental, economic and social impacts of kangaroos in detail and makes recommendations for their sustainable management, placing particular emphasis on the need to conserve the territory’s grassy ecosystem.
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