Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call on the Victorian government to make available to the federal Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities all the information it needs to assess whether the introduction of around 400 cattle into Victoria’s Alpine National Park has breached the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. It has apparently so far not provided information or explanations about what it is doing to limit the impact of cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park. This is not good enough. It would appear that the Liberal government in Victoria, wagged by the National Party dog, is stalling for time. It knows this is a shocker and ultimately it will have to stop. But, like the Japanese whaling program, it is simply trying to get away with it for as long as possible.

In January I wrote to Minister Burke, urging that his department investigate this issue pursuant to the environment protection and biodiversity conservation legislation. I did so following a meeting with the Victorian National Parks Association, which is very concerned that the Victorian state government has introduced cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park. I share the VNPA’s concerns about the environmental impact of cattle in this sensitive area. I am further concerned that the state government seems to be somewhat duplicitous in its handling of this issue, claiming to some people that it is only conducting a trial while saying to others that it is implementing an election commitment.

‘Scientific grazing’ is as dodgy as the Japanese government’s ‘scientific whaling’. The use of cattle grazing to reduce fire risk in alpine environments is not supported by science. After the 2003 alpine fire, a study of the fire by Dr Dick Williams, Dr Ross Bradstock and Dr Henrik Wahren, published in 2006, found no statistically significant difference between grazed and ungrazed areas in the proportion of points burnt and concluded that ‘the use of livestock grazing in Australian alpine environments as a fire abatement practice is not justified on scientific grounds’. Furthermore, grazing was not recommended as a strategy by the Victorian royal commission into the Black Saturday bushfires.

After the 2003 fires the Howard government gave the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre—the CRC—an extra $3 million for research. The National Party MP Peter McGauran claimed at the time in his press release on 8 September 2004:

The Bushfire CRC research will provide a clear indication to the State Government that grazing for fuel reduction needs to begin immediately to avoid another bushfire season like last year.

No evidence to support the theory that ‘alpine grazing reduces blazing’ ever emerged from this research. Not a skerrick! Furthermore, if further research is warranted, which is doubtful, there is land outside the Alpine National Park which could be used for this purpose. On the other hand, there is a wealth of evidence from more than 60 years work by the CSIRO, university and other scientists that cattle grazing damages fragile alpine environments. Cattle damage soils, spread weeds, trample moss beds and watercourses, and threaten rare native flora and fauna.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act was enacted to ensure that matters which have real potential to impact on the environment are considered at a national level. There are a number of endangered species and communities listed under the EPBC which could be affected by the introduction of cattle. These include the alpine tree frog, spotted tree frog and a dozen species of EPBC listed flora. The Victorian National Parks Association believes, and I agree, that this is a matter which requires investigation.

But, really, this is not about what the federal government should do, but about what the state government should do. It should withdraw those cattle. Putting in those cattle was a crude political reward for its supporters. The six so-called research sites, chosen without consulting the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s or Parks Victoria’s own research departments, were chosen so every cattle player would get a prize. Why were no on-site surveys to ascertain the presence of threatened species conducted before the cattle were introduced? Why was no baseline monitoring done for this so-called ‘research’ program? The Alpine National Park is a park. It is not a farm, and the Victorian government needs to respect that.