Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy, I present the committee's report, entitled Living with fruit bats: inquiry into flying fox management in the eastern states, together with the minutes of proceedings.

The flying foxes are an important part of the Australian environment, and it was brought to our attention, as the House of Representatives environment committee, that we should do an inquiry because increasingly there is a tension between what is a native animal and urban populations. For some reason—we still are not sure why—flying foxes are increasingly attracted to urban areas. That may be a result of the native vegetation that is being planted in those urban areas, having the consequence that it has caused a lot of hardship for a lot of Australians who are living with flying foxes, living with fruit bats.

But it was our view in the environment committee that we needed to find a way forward and create a framework in order for people to be able to interact with a very important species. The flying foxes play an integral part in the pollination of so many native species. We held a roundtable, and it was a very constructive roundtable with the environment committee. That roundtable allowed communities to express their concern about the challenges they have had with flying foxes, it allowed experts to talk about the lack of funding they have had to be able to really put some quantifiable data around the number of flying foxes and whether the species are increasing or decreasing and it allowed us as committee members to gain an insight into something that some of us have individual experience with in our own electorates but some of us do not. In the electorate of Mallee, I do not have a lot of flying foxes, but in some of the coastal regions and in many other parts of Australia flying foxes are a significant part of the ecosystem.

It needs to be said that the limited information is because of the life expectancy of flying foxes and the movement of the flying fox. The sheer distance that a flying fox can travel over a 24-hour period makes it very hard to put that quantifiable data towards it, and one of the decisions of the committee was that there needs to be more funding in order for us to make sure that whatever decisions we as Australians make about that interaction between humans and our native species are made from a science based approach so that we can ensure we have a good outcome.

Also we felt that there needed to be an establishment of a cooperative body. Local councils become the first line of defence when you have a significant incursion of flying foxes into that community. Of course people feel that they are inundated and, when there is not that quantifiable data, it then becomes very hard for that local council to be the first responder and to know what should and should not be done. There are some local councils who have had some very good experiences with flying foxes, and one of the recommendations we made is about ensuring that that experience can be shared so that communities can learn from other communities. There is a time when flying foxes do need to have their nests disturbed and perhaps be moved on, but it needs to be a level of process whereby the councils who are working through can know whether this is a small incidence or whether this is a significant issue that is going to have negative consequences on their community.

I want to thank my committee members for their openness. Certainly this committee inquiry was brought on by the minister for the environment, Josh Frydenberg, who said this was an issue. It was also brought on by the member for Hunter, who asked us to look into this. I want to thank those who gave up their time. The report has a lot of recommendations that I would encourage people to read through. It is talking about how we can best ensure we do quantifiable data so that we can best ensure we have a process. This is so that, if there is a small incursion, the community knows that this is just a small incursion and they can live with that and they can understand the species; and, if there is a significant, bigger incursion, to the point that it is having negative consequences on the everyday lives of Australians, that there is some freedom for the minister to be able to allow the council to intervene.

I think the report hopefully will provide some depth and process for future ministers, for future councils and for future state councils to ensure that any interaction with this very important species, a species which is important to Australia's native flora and fauna, is a positive one, not a negative one. Thank you.

See this speech in context