Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

Earlier this year, in February, I submitted a private member's motion on the same topic. I will read the motion, because there are some statistics in it which are relevant to the matter that we are debating. It was:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) the growing recognition that the world's African elephant and rhinoceros populations are facing extinction as a result of unprecedented levels of poaching for the global ivory trade;

(b) that the poached ivory is sold in auction houses around the world, including several Australian auction sites;

(c) that the overwhelming amount of ivory sold does not have provenance information to prove its origin, history and authenticity;

(d) that during a 2015 International Fund of Animal Welfare investigation, just 2 of 73 ivory lots offered at Australian auction houses had provenance documentation; and

(e) that the 17111 Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) from 24 September to 5 October 2016 adopted the following resolution: that all CITES parties and non-parties 'in whose jurisdiction there is a legal domestic market for ivory that is contributing to poaching or illegal trade, take all necessary legislative, regulatory and enforcement measures to close their domestic markets for commercial trade in raw and worked ivory as a matter of urgency'; and

(2) calls on the Government to implement the CITES resolution.

I read that resolution out because it goes to the heart of my comments on this matter. It does concern me when I hear about animals becoming extinct because of human greed and stupidity. It makes me angry that people are financing their destruction through buying the very products that those animals are being killed for. Some months ago I met with Shaun O'Shea. I've known Shaun since he was a teenager. When he left school he joined the South Australian Police Force. He worked as a police officer in South Australia for 30 years. On retirement, still a relatively young man, he went to work for the International Coalition of Rhino Protection in Mozambique in Africa. He spent three months there in what was referred to as an anti-poaching unit, and he saw firsthand what was occurring and the devastation that was happening to both elephants and rhinoceroses. The point made by the member for La Trobe in terms of the cruelty and the barbaric way in which these animals are killed was something he saw firsthand, whether it was the use of poison arrows, rifles, grenades, machetes and the like.

The fact is that prior to European civilisation there were some 20 million elephants in Africa. Today there are 350,000, or thereabouts. With the northern white rhino, of which there were some 2,000 in 1960, there are only six left in the world, and I believe they are all in captivity. With black rhinos, I understand there's only about 5,000 of them left. The authorities in some African countries are not doing enough to protect these majestic animals. Indeed, I understand that in some places corruption is rife. The work that Shaun and his team are doing is very risky. African conservation park officers are often killed doing their duty—working on the conservation parks and trying to stop the poachers.

The elephants and rhinos would not be killed if there were no market for the ivory. I note a recent news story reporting that both China and the US are doing something about this. China has committed to phasing out its ivory industry. I understand that 11 states in the US are legislating to ban ivory trading. These are both encouraging developments, but there are many other countries where the ivory is still being sold, and Australia, whilst it's taken some steps, is one country that could be doing more. We should adopt the CITES resolution as a matter of urgency. It was agreed to last year and it's an international resolution. In my view, this is the first step that the Australian government should be taking. If we don't act and don't act urgently, then there is every likelihood that these wonderful animals will become extinct in the not too distant future.

I go back to the comments of Shaun when he was working out there. The cruelty and the barbaric way that these animals were being killed is something he experienced. Because of his police expertise, he was able to successfully stop poachers many a time. But, unfortunately, there are not enough people like Shaun doing that kind of work to protect them.

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