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

Australian mammal fauna is the most distinctive in the world, and 86 per cent of our land mammal species are found nowhere else. The most comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of Australian mammals is the Action plan for Australian mammals 2012, and it makes for some very troubling. This landmark CSIRO-published study found that mammal extinctions were 40 per cent higher than previously thought. Twenty-nine Australian land mammals have become extinct. Nearly 10 per cent of our original terrestrial mammal fauna and 63 species are threatened and require urgent conservation action. This is 30 per cent of our surviving terrestrial mammals. These losses and potential losses represent over a third of the 315 species present at the time of European settlement.

Since the 1840s we have lost mammals at the rate of one species per decade. On current trends, there will be many more extinctions of Australian mammals in the next one or two generations. The decline in our mammal fauna over the last 10 to 15 years has been severe. The Australian Wildlife Conservancy, known as AWC, pointed out in their winter 2014 edition of Wildlife Matters that the bilby and numbat have declined, with the numbat population now less than 1,000 mature adults.    The brush-tailed bettong has suffered a catastrophic decline from over 200,000 animals to an estimated population of around 10,000 animals. The plight of the golden-backed tree rat highlights the severe declines in Northern Australia. On mainland Australia it has disappeared from the Northern Territory, including Kakadu National Park, and survives only in a thin strip along the Kimberley coast.

Lesser known species such as the fawn antechinus are also in steep decline, while other species are so rarely detected that they could disappear without us knowing. Even iconic species are disappearing The koala and the Tasmanian devil are nationally threatened, and the once-common platypus is classed as near-threatened. Most Australians know of and regret the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, but also important are the other 28 mammal species now extinct. These species played important and irreplaceable roles in our country's ecology. These species were part of the fabric of this country.

Australia has the worst rate of mammal extinction in the world, and the situation is not improving, thanks to feral predators such as cats. Feral cats have been identified as the major cause of population decline. Federal and state governments are spending more than $1 billion per annum on biodiversity conservation but the return on this investment would make a corporate boardroom shake its head. Only four of the 63 threatened mammal species have materially improved their conservation standing during the last 10 to 15 years, while the other 59 species have declined or, at best, maintained their precarious position over the same period.

What is needed is a new model in conjunction with research into a safe and targeted form of biological control to address the issue of feral cat control. It truly is a frightening statistic that 75 million native animals are killed by feral cats each night. This includes not only mammals but also birds and reptiles as well. The CSIRO estimates there are 15 million feral cats in Australia, with each killing an average five animals a night. The AWC is conducting the largest feral cat research program in Australian history in an attempt to unlock the secrets to effective cat control. It manages 23 sanctuaries covering over 3 million hectares, which facilitates effective conservation of Australian animal species and the habitats in which they live. A centrepiece of their model in southern and Central Australia is the establishment of large feral-free areas, or mainland islands—a model they are looking to extend to Northern Australia. Thirty-two nationally threatened mammals, including bats, are found in their sanctuaries.

The work of the AWC represents a new model for conservation. As Atticus Fleming, Chief Executive of AWC, said:

We have delivered significant increases in our populations of Greater Bilbies, Numbats, Woylies, Bridled Nailtail Wallabies and more.

Why are our results generally bucking the trend of the last decade? In most cases, it is because we have invested wisely in the establishment of large fox and cat-free areas. The Mammal Action Plan highlights the importance of additional mainland (fenced) islands until an effective landscape-scale control for feral cats is developed. AWC is leading the way on both strategies.

I commend to the House the work of Australian Wildlife Conservancy in protecting our rare and precious Australian animals.