Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to echo the sentiments of the committee chair, the member for Mallee, in his excellent speech. It is an important topic. One of the key driving forces, besides the referral from the minister for the environment, was the real community agitation we have seen on this issue. It has been particularly noticeable in my local area of Lake Macquarie and the Hunter Valley. I want to acknowledge that the key driving force for this inquiry's establishment was the member for Hunter. So I am glad he is in the chamber. He has been very vocal on the impact this has had on communities in our area, whether it is Singleton up the valley or Blackalls Park right on Lake Macquarie.

It is an issue where we need to acknowledge the key role that flying foxes have in our environment in terms of biodiversity and as a key pollinator for our flora. But we also need to acknowledge the huge negative impact that urban settlements of these animals have on these communities—people not able to go outside, heightened levels of asthma, destruction of cars, issues with kids going to school.

So we need to find a solution, and this report goes some way towards finding that solution by pointing out two key things. Firstly, more research is needed. We do not even have true base levels for the populations of these flying foxes, so we cannot tell whether the populations have rebounded because of their listing as endangered. How can we remove them from those listings if we do not know what the population truly is? Secondly, much more research is needed into mitigation. What are the most effective ways of dealing with this issue before we take the very drastic step of completely moving a flying fox camp?

The round table that the committee held was particularly valuable in driving forth the point that councils need more information. Councils are often very poorly resourced, but they bear the brunt of dealing with this issue, so I think the key recommendation from this report besides more research being needed is to give councils more tools in their armoury for how to deal with this and support local communities so that the knee-jerk response of just destroying the camp is not the first response. It may be part of the response, but it should not be the first response, and councils need to know that there are other options.

I commend this report to the House. I thank the secretariat for their excellent work. I thank everyone who made submissions, and I thank the member for Hunter, again, for really being the driving force in cooperation with the Minister for the Environment and Energy.

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

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.