Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

How about you say it, and we will all be right! The combination of it and myxoma virus has suppressed wild rabbit populations to about 15 per cent of their potential numbers. Blackberry and blackberry leaf rust were released in 1991 and 1992. Leaf rust has slowed the rate of spread and reduced total biomass, particularly in Victoria. To combat Paterson's curse, seven different types of insects have been approved for release in Australia. Six of the insects have been established in the field and they are helping to suppress the weed as part of an integrated management approach.

The amendments will provide greater certainty for stakeholders who research, deliver and benefit from biological control programs, including scientists, farmers, land managers and the community. The amendments are consistent with the original intent of the act, which was established to provide an equitable means of determining whether a proposed biological control program is in the public interest and, where appropriate, to authorise the release of biological control agents. The bill will not affect the existing basic scientific, technical or safety procedures and standards applying to biological control. We need this level of confidence.

Biological control agents will continue to be subject to considerable testing and approval processes prior to release in Australia. The act then provides for the declaration of 'target organisms', for example, the weed Paterson's curse, and 'agent organisms', for example, the crown weevil. It contains provisions to ensure that biological control activities are subject to liability protection and can proceed without interruption by litigation. The Australian Chief Veterinary Officer and Australian Chief Plant Protection Officer provided scientific advice during the drafting of the bill and supported the approach.

I will go back to where I started. We are an island nation. This has given us significant national barriers to foreign pests and diseases. But, as I said, while such barriers are significant, they are not infallible. I spoke earlier about feral pigs, and I will raise this subject once again in finishing my comments today: this is a significant and growing problem. My area in the south-west is not the only area that has this problem. The fact that we have people actively releasing pigs to then hunt them later does not in any way reflect the enormous cost that this brings to landholders and farmers, or the risk to people who might find themselves confronted by one of these feral pigs if they are out in the bush or even in farmland, as I mentioned earlier in my speech. On that basis, I commend this bill to the House.

See this speech in context