Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I begin by thanking the House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy for undertaking this inquiry into flying fox management in the eastern states. In particular, I thank the chair, the member for Mallee, and the deputy chair, the member for Shortland, and indeed the minister, who was supportive of me in my quest to have this inquiry undertaken. I also thank all those witnesses, including expert witnesses, that gave their time to present to the committee.

I sought this inquiry because I have communities in my electorate—and I am sure other members of the House have shared these experiences—literally under siege. People have to put with terrible smells and terrible noise. People cannot hang clothes on the clothes line and no longer have family and friends visit because there is nowhere to park the car, and the car, of course, is under threat from the droppings of the flying foxes. We had a situation in Cessnock where people were starting to take the law into their own hands. The situation was at one point so bad that they were trying to burn down the habitat of the flying foxes. We had firemen come to the scene to extinguish that fire, and they themselves were concerned, like local residents, about their own personal health and wellbeing.

It is not just Cessnock. In Singleton we had a terrible problem in a place called Burdekin Park, the park in which the cenotaph stands. We just had a very solemn and important debate about our various operations in the military sphere. Burdekin Park was the place where we used to hold solemn services like Anzac Day services but have been unable to do so for some six years now. Such was the extent to which the flying foxes had taken over Burdekin Park. In Blackalls Park on the western side of Lake Macquarie, we had up to 100,000 flying foxes living right in amongst houses. During the last election campaign, I travelled to the seat of Paterson with the now member, Meryl Swanson, to talk with the local community about the situation in Raymond Terrace.

The problem, of course, is finding a solution. The starting point is to acknowledge that the numbers of the various subspecies of flying fox, including the grey-headed flying fox, are in decline and that they do play a very important role in our ecology, pollinating much of the native flora that is so important to our environment. On the other side of the equation, as I have said, they are causing terrible, horrible situations in local communities.

I did hope that the parliamentary inquiry, with expert witnesses, might throw up some solutions and answers to the difficult questions—answers that neither I, local communities, state governments nor local governments have been able to find. I did not go into this inquiry with high expectations, because I knew how difficult a question it was, but I did hope that something, a solution, that no-one had thought of before might come out of the inquiry. That, sadly, was not the case.

First of all, I should say the inquiry confirmed everything that I have said—that is, that the numbers are in decline, that they are a critical species to the environment and that they are a terrible scourge on our local communities. All of those points were absolutely confirmed, but magic answers were not found. However, some helpful recommendations have been made, including a certainty in funding for research and data. You cannot fix a problem if you do not understand the problem, and research and ongoing data is critical to understanding this problem.

Second, there is a recommendation there to deal with the complexities of the overlapping responsibilities of Commonwealth and state governments. It is one of the great wonders of our Federation. We see this not just on this issue but on just about every issue we tackle in this place: the complex situation where you have a dual responsibility across state and Commonwealth jurisdictions. The committee has made a recommendation about a establishing a COAG group that would work to try to at least minimise those complexities, to lower the bar, and to make it easier for both local and state governments to deal with these issues.

There is also a recommendation about helping local councils deal with the problem. Councils are always the first port of call for members of the local community when they are facing such a significant problem, but the fact is the councils have neither the resources nor the tools to adequately respond to this community problem. They need help, and I am pleased that the committee recognised that and have made at least some recommendations about giving those councils the tools they require to act on behalf of the community.

Fourth—and these are not exhaustive. I will not have the time to go through all the recommendations, but the fourth key point was a recommendation on greater community education about flying foxes and the role they play in our ecology in our environment. The reality—

Mr Christensen interjecting—

I hear the member for Dawson, I am sure, out of the greatest respect, challenging the idea that the flying foxes play an important role in the ecology and in the environment. I would appeal to the member, on what I thought was going to be very much a bipartisan debate, to reflect on that interjection before he speaks—if he is speaking on this matter. I know he still wants to have a debate about climate change, but there are some things that just fall in the category of fact. It is a fact that the flying foxes do play an important role pollinating so much of the native flora in this country, which, in turn, plays a significant role in various food chains. This is incontestable, Member for Dawson. Please do not make this problem any harder by challenging that. If you want to get the shotgun out and shoot them all, get up and say so, but there will not be too any experts around the country, member for Dawson, who will back you up on that.

When I was trying to help my local community, Mr Deputy Speaker, there were times when I felt like getting the shotgun out; I can tell you. I have talked about my concern about communities taking the law into their own hands, and I was actually fearful that one day someone would decide to take up arms. The extension of my fear was that there would be someone taking up arms at one end of the habitat and someone taking up arms at the other end of the habitat. This is where we have a responsible role to play—I say to the member for Dawson—in making sure that we maintain civil order and let the authorities, as best they can, deal with these issues.

I welcome the recommendations but also make the point that, while my expectations were not high, I am disappointed that the committee was unable to find a way of making more substantial recommendations. As meritorious as the recommendations are, for my people living in Singleton, Cessnock and Blackalls Park next season, probably next spring, these recommendations will make no difference whatsoever. These recommendations, particularly the recommendation that seeks to deal with the complexities of Commonwealth and state jurisdiction, might help over a period of time but they are not going to provide any immediate relief. Members of this place and members in state parliaments need to ready themselves for these events occurring on a regular basis, the potential for civil disobedience, and a point where, as legislators, we may need a more aggressive approach. Of course, displacement is part of that. We saw evidence that displacement is rarely successful over the medium to long term, so it may be that we will be revisiting this question, and we will need to work with other levels of government to find something more substantial to deal with what is a very serious problem for local communities.

Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise to speak on the report Living with fruit bats: inquiry into flying-fox management in the eastern states. This report of the inquiry into flying fox management in the eastern states holds a special place in my heart because it is the first inquiry process I have been through from start to finish as a new MP.

The topic arose as a consequence of some of the practical difficulties—well described by the previous speaker, the member for Hunter—in the balancing act between the liveability in some of our suburbs and the importance of proper species protection. In the inquiry we heard from people who are, naturally, concerned to ensure the ongoing strength and viability of flying fox populations. We also heard from local councils who have been struggling to contain the impacts on residents when flying fox communities move into areas in great numbers, making people's homes virtually uninhabitable. It was a topic that grabbed me from the start given that, since childhood, I have had an interest in and love of Australia's natural environment, and given my inner-city electorate, where three of Australia's four species of flying fox can be found.

My experience in this parliamentary process has really reinforced my faith in the ability of parliamentary committees to hear different points of view, consider the evidence and balance competing interests in a transparent and mostly bipartisan way. We had all the stakeholders and experts around a big table here in this parliament last year, and we facilitated a conversation that drew out some of the stories, some of the opportunities and some of the challenges that arise when we live with flying foxes. In an age when some say that parliamentary democracy is ill-suited to meeting the demands of a population increasingly looking for quick fixes and instant gratification, more people should be aware of the good work done by our parliamentary committees, often in a bipartisan way.

The four recommendations that were made by the committee are targeted, appropriate and meaningful, but I take the point made by the member for Hunter that there were no huge breakthroughs in terms of managing these issues. The committee recommended that the Commonwealth play a leadership role to help councils and local residents to more easily find the right advice and information right from the start, to help with these issues when they arise. Many of the problems that did arise in the stories we heard from councils and residents struggling to find the right advice were from misinformation that was misdirecting residents to take various actions, and misdirecting councils sometimes as well into making unrealistic commitments to their residents. The committee recommended that the Commonwealth play a coordinating role when it comes to tracking flying fox numbers, management actions and research. The committee also recommended that we continue our existing funding, as well as better fund research and conservation efforts, so that we better understand flying fox populations, which are notoriously difficult to assess, given they are flying mammals who can travel individually sometimes up to thousands of kilometres in just a number of days. The committee also recommended that the department create a tool for assisting councils to make better decisions around action and referral, as well a suite of education resources to be made available to the Australian community.

Some important observations can be made on the way through. Firstly, flying foxes are an important part of our ecosystem. Without the pollination and seed distribution actions of flying foxes many of our species of gum trees and other native flora would die out. Secondly, when Australians think we do not have migratory megafauna to manage, like other continents such as Africa and North America, maybe we need to rethink some of our approaches to regional habitat management. Thirdly, whilst some flying foxes, admittedly, may seem at first blush to have faces that only a mother could love, if you look again more carefully maybe, just maybe, you will be persuaded to shift your opinion.

On a serious point, though, while some of the world's largest, most identifiable and possibly fluffiest creatures seem to get all of the attention and the funding when it comes to species conservation, I have always been a big believer since my early days as a kid—when I was passionate about native fish species, such as the threatened honey blue-eye and the purple spotted gudgeon—that the dullest and the ugliest of our creatures, sometimes both great and small, deserve our care and attention just as much.

Australia is our sanctuary—an economic sanctuary, an environmental sanctuary and a sanctuary affording us safety from many of the ills and the miseries in the wider world. We should take very seriously the responsibility that comes with having the custodianship of both a country and a continent. This inquiry was important work. I am proud of this report. I am proud of this parliament and of our liberal democracy. I commend this report to the House. I commend the recommendations of the inquiry to the minister, the department and their counterparts in the state and territory governments.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This report, Living with fruit bats: Inquiry into flying-fox management in the eastern states, is a most extraordinary document, and that was a most extraordinary speech by the previous speaker. It scares the hell out of me to listen to someone like that. I represent an electorate. My main office is in a place called Innisfail. In Innisfail on the weekend a human being was ripped to pieces. His arms were torn off. His legs were torn off. This is how a crocodile kills you. It is the most dreadful way to die. You are normally still alive, and then he hides you somewhere where he can feed on you later on. A human being suffered this on the weekend. But the sort of mentality that was exemplified by the previous speaker—possibly all the speakers, I do not know—puts animals above human beings.

I was at university until they found out I was there and booted me out. I did a unit called psychology, and in that unit there was a definition of psychosis—I would use the term 'madness' but other people would use the term 'psychosis'. The definition was 'a person who had no feelings for his fellow human beings'. This gentlemen that stood up before in this place was really concerned about flying foxes. We were left with the distinct impression that he was really concerned about flying foxes. A resident of his electorate was attacked by two flying foxes. Her arms and parts of her body were torn and shredded. She could not escape from them. They just kept coming at her. In Hendra, a suburb of Brisbane, not far away from where this woman was attacked, there is a virus which is called Hendra virus because that is where it was found. Four of the six people that have contracted Hendra virus have died. It has a death rate of 60 per cent. This woman said, 'You know, if I'd been attacked by a human being, the human being would have been put in jail for seven years.' That is the normal incarceration rate when you physically attack someone seriously and violently like that. But, because it is a flying fox, nothing is done to it at all. There is nothing at all that is done to it.

I am a person that takes a great and keen interest in nature. I love nature. I live on a little paradise of 10 acres, where we have nearly 1,000 native trees surrounding us and some 32 species of birds that we can see almost every week from the back landing of our house. If you know nature and you understand nature, then you know that there is a balance. That balance has been there for 40,000 years, since human beings first came to this continent. That balance meant that the number of flying foxes was very, very restrained. They had a very limited food source because the vegetation was not very great in North Queensland. Contrary to popular opinion, they do not actually live in the rainforest very much at all; they live outside of the rainforest. There are some species—very small, minor numbers—that do.

Flying foxes, of course, provided food for the First Australians. There are those in this place who seem to be fairly ignorant of every aspect of nature—and of various other things as well, like the economy. For those of us that do take an interest in these things, you would know that a boomerang is a weapon uniquely used to attack flying foxes. It is not a weapon that will pick up a bird, which flies very swiftly, but it will pick up a flying fox, which flies very slowly. It can pick it up in the trees. Track two or three of them to a tree full of flying foxes and you will get one or two, that is for certain. There was no doubt that they were a small but significant proportion of the diet of the people that lived here for 40,000 years. Most of the people that live here now have only been here for 150 years. Almost the entire population came out in the gold rushes, so there was no-one really living here, until 150 years ago, that was European.

That a person could stand up in this place and advocate for the protection of flying foxes—are these people not aware of the 60 Minutes program where that little boy died in the most agonising pain conceivable by human beings? For those—and there would be many of us—that read and love the Wilbur Smith novels, the main event of his first novel was the death of the hero's best friend from rabies. Lyssavirus is just a form of rabies. It is the worst possible way to die. He, in fact, shot his friend rather than see him die in the way that he was dying. This little boy died, and it was filmed on 60 Minutes, and yet there has not been one speech in this place saying, 'Get out there with a shotgun and get rid of the damn things!'

They are a filthy menace. They have a DNA very similar to human beings, and that means that they carry the diseases that will attack human beings. Let me name them: lyssavirus, which no-one has survived in Australia. That little boy died from it, off the member for Dawson's area—and I am sure he will feel as passionately about it as I do. They carry Hendra virus, which has killed four out of the six people that have contracted it. Let me take you to the coalface. Let me rub the faces of some of the stupid people that are elected to represent the people of Australia in this place in the gutter of their own creation. I speak with passion because I feel passionate about it. In this case, two horses contracted the disease. I rode one of those horses—I ride one of the most beautiful horses at the front of the Ingham procession at the annual Australian Italian Festival. I will not name the family, because they have already been to hell and back.

When they walked down the street, everyone left the street. They would not be served in shops. It was just like they had leprosy. Everyone knew them—they were a very prominent family—and for two or three months of their lives and for a very long time afterwards, people would not associate with them or have anything to do with them whatsoever. There was a huge bat colony on the edge of their property outside of Ingham, and they were not allowed to remove them or even move them on. And when we attempted to move them on, there was the environment department, who are a bunch of people that blood-suck off the people of Australia—they produce nothing; they do not even produce any flow of information that would be of use to anyone. They are absorbing thousands of millions of dollars of government money and delivering absolutely nothing back to us.

I speak with great sensitivity on the issue because I represent the jungles of Australia—almost all of Australia's jungles are in the Kennedy electorate, with a little tiny bit in the electorate of the member for Dawson, who is suffering from an inferiority complex here—in New South Wales, where they have very prominent cultivation that they make a lot of money out of, at Nimbin and those places! But I represent the vast bulk of Australia's jungles. I also represent, along with the member for Dawson, almost all of the populated area of the Great Barrier Reef. We deserve, and should get, a flow of information.

I will get to the sort of information we get. The great authorities from the university in Townsville told us that the dugong were vanishing, that they were an endangered species, and they quoted the figures of where the dugong numbers had dropped clean in half. Then there was a report, in this case done by the Institute of Marine Science—and there is a body that does earn its money; it gives us a flow of information that has an understanding of the real world in which we live—that said, 'Yes, the numbers have dropped clean in half in the bottom half of the Barrier Reef, and they doubled in the northern half of the Barrier Reef.'

We simply want to get rid of the bats—we do not want to study them and we do not want to spend a fortune studying them. We want to get rid of them, and it is very simple: you put a very loud noise under all the trees, and they go away. I would prefer to get them to catch lead poisoning, but anyway. (Time expired)

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was a mesmerising speech, I must say. I could listen for some time longer but, unfortunately, it is 10 minutes apiece. I call the honourable member for Capricornia.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to respond to the recommendations proposed following the inquiry into flying fox management in the eastern states and, in particular, how this affects residents in my electorate of Capricornia.

We are all aware of the challenge of balancing environmental protections of native species with community safety; however, it seems that, once again, we are putting bats before people and not addressing the concerns of regional communities. The recommendations need to consider the costs laid onto regional communities and the burden the protections place on those living amongst large colonies of flying foxes. I support ongoing funding, but this needs to be balanced with research into improved dispersal methods while ensuring the state governments take action. Most importantly, the state government needs to work more collaboratively with local councils with a clearer pathway for flying fox relocation.

To date, the cost of dispersal is being borne by local governments in Queensland and, in some cases, community members have to fork out for testing costs themselves. This is not acceptable and may also lead to communities taking matters into their own hands to the detriment of flying fox communities. This is not a good outcome for anyone.

In Queensland, council has as-of-right permission from the state government to take certain non-lethal action to manage and potentially disperse flying fox roosts in urban settings within Queensland. While these as-of-right permissions exist, it is not simple or cost-effective for councils to use these powers. The powers give councils the ability to remove trees and undertake habitat modification.

But, as in Eungella and Walkerston, this does not have long-term results. Detailed and prolonged campaigns of dispersal activities are expensive. Councils need support to assess the best way forward, as outlined in recommendation 3, but also need financial assistance to implement management plans. A collaborative and collective approach is the best way to achieve this, but the state government buck-passing must stop.

I wish to raise this specific issue troubling the residents of Eungella in the north of my electorate of Capricornia. This is a perfect example of the real-life challenges facing regional communities with flying fox problems. Last week I witnessed firsthand a large colony of flying foxes roosting in the national park directly adjacent to the school, and when I say 'adjacent', I mean directly along the fence line with overgrown trees in the schoolyard. The bats are stripping trees in the national park. They are destroying local fruit trees and vegetation. I have never seen anything like it. They are crawling over each other in droves. The council understands the residents' concerns and is working towards trying to develop appropriate actions to assist. Why should the financial and resource burden be passed to local communities and councils?

As the committee report highlights, the nesting sites of flying foxes are a wider issue. Dispersal from higher density areas usually means relocation to less populated areas—that is, those in rural areas. Yet the costs are borne completely by the receiving council, and there are too many limitations on making the best decisions based on the needs of local residents.

But let's return to Eungella for a moment to highlight their inefficiency of dealing with this problem. Parents have raised concerns and the school as attempting to work with the Department of Education and the Department of National Parks. For months the education department said it was a national parks issue, and national parks were only concerned with their side of the fence. After a lot of buck-passing, national parks have agreed to cut back the trees to the park side of the fence.

I should not have to remind anyone that bats fly. They are flying over the school and they are defecating on the school roof. The remote school relies on tank water, and that water comes from the roof. The taste permeates through the water. Parents are now refusing to let their kids drink the water and will have to pay from their own pockets to get the water tested.

Then there is Walkerston. A very narrow bridge and pedestrian walkway connects the western side of town with the school. In regional areas kids actually still walk to school but, to get to school, they have to walk directly underneath a massive colony of flying foxes dropping faeces and urine directly onto students. Parents, businesses and concerned residents have written to the council and raised the issue time and time again, but no action is taken because the bats are more protected than the kids. We need to make the solution practical and ensure that the state government stops passing the buck on this issue. It is not just the kids; B-Double trucks loaded with fuel cross the same bridge. It is only a matter of time before a severe incident occurs when the bats take flight. The stench is disgusting, and people have stopped coming into town to shop because of it.

Another safety issue created a hazard zone on the Bruce Highway near Marlborough. Here the flying fox colony would drop out of the trees to begin flight, directly into the path of heavy vehicles using the road. They would hit windscreens, causing crashes and near crashes. In this case the bats were relocated, but not after significant impacts and lobbying from local residents.

But let's go back to Eungella for a moment. The issue at the Eungella State School is recurring and ongoing. Yes, the flying fox numbers change and, yes, the colony numbers fluctuate but they continue to return to the same spot at the fence line of the school, which happens to border a national park. In this instance, the region is not impeded by urban sprawl. While the residents of Eungella would love to see new development in their town, the population is actually declining. Also in this instance there is an abundance of national park space with similar habitation that could be used for dispersal.

Correspondence early last year to the Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection highlights the state government evading responsibility. The state minister admitted to being aware that the colony has existed in this location for 10 years. He also acknowledged that, throughout this time, the flying foxes have continued to spread into the Eungella school, but the poor parents trying to ensure the children have safe drinking water are passed from one department to the other and between local and state government. Nobody wants to take ownership and no-one wants to help. It is not their problem, not their land or not a cost they can wear. Again, it is the people of remote and regional areas who seem to be wearing the actual and intangible costs of urban sprawl from major cities. Regional councils and residents cannot and should not be expected to foot the hefty bill for the development of dispersible management plans. So it appears that bats have more protection rights for their offspring than parents do. I am extremely worried that we will not learn our lesson on this until a child gets sick from an infection or a bite.

I support the recommendation that the Department of the Environment and Energy develop, in consultation with relevant state and local governments, a tool that assists councils to make decisions on action, referral and education in the most appropriate way relevant to the flying fox impacts and their jurisdiction. However, it is imperative that we also provide councils with the final tools and support to manage flying fox colonies and common sense action for communities.

I also want to mention a vet who passed away in 2016 around the Yeppoon-Rockhampton area, Alister Rodgers. He died of the Hendra virus. He was a vet who was tending to horses where the water had been infected. It was a tragedy for the community. He was a vet out there doing his job and he was killed by these dirty bats. I realise they have a place in the whole ecology of nature, but something has to be done about it before more people suffer illness or die.

Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to thank the Standing Committee on Environment and Energy, but, as the member for Hunter said, I do not think the recommendations have gone anywhere near far enough. We need action and action now. Right across the eastern states and especially within Flynn, flying foxes are arriving and nesting in rural and regional communities. I do not know why they have to settle in towns. There seems to be some attraction to the bats who settle in towns. There are so many trees between Emerald, Rockhampton and Mackay, but they still do not want to go there; they will go to where the towns are settled. They come in groups. First a scout will come and then two scouts. The next day there will be 10 and the next day there will be 110 or 1,000. They come in huge numbers and they are a real concern to the communities. In places like Moura, they have come to rest in the trees above the kindergarten. Last weekend I came through Duaringa and they were over the park—millions of them. It is an absolute plague. There is a colony in Cabra, outside Rockhampton. Gayndah has been fighting the flying fox plague for the last five years. They were all along the Burnett River. I visited a lady who had a lovely home. Her house was between the river and a big fig tree. The bats got into the fig tree. They were actually flying through the windows of her kitchen to windows on the other side of the house. She had to knock down the beautiful old fig tree that had been there for probably 100 years. Wowan has still got a problem around the preschool and Calliope has them in the caravan park. They are setting up around houses, over water intake valves and in kindergartens. This is a problem that we must address and it cannot wait another 10 years to do that. There is the grey headed bat, the red headed bat, the speckle headed bat and there is the black headed bat. They all seem to be having babies and when they are having babies you cannot move them according to the laws of the environmental departments. It seems to me that they are continually having babies bats and once that happens, of course, you cannot move them.

This is the problem, so what is the solution? Some people come up with their own solutions, like having a carbide light. Has anyone ever smelt carbide? In a flammable situation it really stinks. You can make all sorts of noise; you could put Joe Cocker's band underneath the trees and after the third night they would probably move. You can start a chainsaw up and leave it under the tree; that works. If you put a helicopter over the top of them that would move them. It nearly brings the helicopter down though, so that's not a good solution if you are in the helicopter! Another good way of moving them is to use a wood sizer that sizes down timber; that really screams. A unique way of getting bats out of the trees is if you can find a bunch of meat ants and you put the meat ants up the tree. That also moves them and is nature working. Bright lights are another way of moving them. Of course, smoke from burning horse dung or cow dung in a tin under the tree can move them. The Deputy Speaker might even suggest putting flamethrowers around the nest, and that would also move them on, I imagine. You could probably burn the bodies at the same time. That would be a good way of getting rid of them.

Hendra virus, lyssavirus and rabies are carried by these bats. They can be transmitted to humans and, of course, to horses. Lyssavirus was identified in 1996 and found in all kinds of flying foxes and the fruit bats. The viruses can cause serious illness, convulsions and death. There have been four people killed by lyssavirus. Since November 1996 three people have died as a result of this infection. Hendra virus is slightly different and it can be contracted through horses. Vic Rail was a famous horse trainer who trained a horse called Vo Rogue, which was a real front-running horse. It won the Turnbull Stakes and Australian cups. That is how good it was. It was a Queensland favourite. Vic contracted the Hendra virus. People in Hendra in Brisbane do not like calling it the Hendra virus because they think there is something wrong with their suburb, but it is where Vic had his stables. That is why they call it the Hendra virus. Vic fought a brave fight but in the end he succumbed and he died, unfortunately.

Ben Cunneen, a 33-year-old vet, also died after treating a horse in the Cleveland area of Brisbane. A lady who was with Ben at the time survived but was very ill. Alister Rodgers, who was mentioned by the previous speaker, the member for Capricornia, was in the Rockhampton area where bats had defecated into the feed bins of the horses. The horses ate the feed out of the feed bins and the then got sick, so the vet was called. Unfortunately, the vet was Alister Rodgers, and he died shortly after. So these things cannot be taken seriously enough. People are worried about having bats roosting in their gardens, defecating on their roofs and generally causing issues around public places.

I had an unfortunate incident with a fruit bat myself a few years ago. I came home late one night, at about 10 o'clock, got out of the car and disturbed a bat that was in a palm tree outside the garage. He flew out of the tree and—bang!—hit me in the face. I did not know what was it was; I thought Muhammad Ali had hit me. But when he started to climb up my face I knew I had a bat. I threw him on the ground—I thought I had killed him but I had not—and then, as there was blood running down my face, I went straight to the hospital. The nursing staff did not know what to do, so they cleaned me up and sent me home.

The next morning I was on my way to work and I got a ring from the Brisbane hospital saying, 'Mr O'Dowd, you have been hit by a bat.' I said yes. They said: 'We don't want you to move. We want you to go straight to the Gladstone hospital again.' With that, they sent the rabies needle up on the first plane available. Man, I had never had so much pain. I thought I was in pain the night before, but when they started jabbing me with needles I really did have pain.

It was a very sobering incident, so I will never forget the fruit bat for that. Fortunately, he did not carry the disease, so I was lucky in that way.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member. For the record, I used to live in Darwin for a couple of years. My wife and I used a basketball to clear the mango tree of flying foxes and it was very effective—a small tip.

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not to make light of it, but we now know why the member for Flynn is so rabid on getting funding for roads in his electorate.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I give the call to the member for Dawson.

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Seriously, this issue is one which has plagued communities throughout North Queensland. I have been involved with many cases to do with flying foxes dating back to the times when I was a local government councillor in Mackay city council. It was only very shortly into that stint as a councillor that I was asked by the department of the environment to come along to a meeting with a group that had a very long acronym, as these groups have. It was the NEFFCRWG, I remember, which stood for the 'North Eton flying fox colony relocation working group'. They immediately tried to handball the issue onto the council, unfortunately successfully. It was left to us to come up with a way that we could relocate these flying foxes from the township of North Eton.

The flying foxes had perched themselves in the mango trees that were right beside the local bowls club, which was almost like the centre of this town; it was the community hall for this little town. They made a mess, they defecated everywhere, and people could not use that facility because of it. Every little thing that we tried to do and every little thing that the residents tried to do would be frustrated by these department of environment officials, who just seemed to be saying, 'No, the bats have to be protected at all costs.' The things that the member for Flynn talked about before, whether it was smoking them out, playing loud music or some other activity, were not allowed because it was upsetting the flying foxes. It was almost that we were fighting this bureaucracy in state government that were saying: 'No way can you do anything. You've got to work out a way that these creatures will naturally relocate.' I can remember one environmental official telling me that what council needed to do was to gradually build up a little oasis where there were fruit trees and all these other things that the flying foxes would naturally drift over to of their own accord. I said: 'Are we going to send them letters to tell them that we have a new residence for them? How are they going to know this?' This is how ridiculous this comes down to.

I laughed before at something the member for Hunter said, because it showed the same sort of attitude that we were getting from the environment department officials: these creatures play this important part in the local ecosphere, so we cannot upset them. I have to tell you: there are that many flying foxes where I come from that it is the people who should be protected, not the flying foxes. All of the efforts to try and make them go away somewhere else failed because of bureaucracy. What happened in this instance was the one local greenie in that town went on holidays for a week, and the boys came out with shotguns, and they took care of the problem themselves. They turned law-abiding citizens into criminals. They were that frustrated that nothing could be done that they felt that, as soon as the one person in the community that had a concern for the flying foxes turned away, they would go and deal with it themselves, and boy did they deal with it. There were dead flying foxes everywhere.

The same thing is going to happen in so many other locations. The member for Capricornia talked about Eungella, which is right on my doorstep in my electorate. I have been up there with her. I have seen it—these disgusting, foul creatures urinating all over the school rainwater tank, which is what the kids got their water from. They cannot use that now. They cannot even go out onto their school oval, as it is that overpopulated with these bats.

I go to the member for Kennedy—you want to talk about the impact that these bats have—and that young boy, Lincoln Boucher, that he was talking about. I think he was eight years old. He and his parents, Colin Boucher and Michelle Flynn, came from the Whitsundays. Their young boy, a fair few years ago—I think it was back in 2013—was bitten and scratched by one of these bats. He was not tormenting it. He was not doing anything. He was just walking down the road and a bat happened to attack him, and he died. He died of lyssavirus. He died and it sent shockwaves throughout the community that this could happen, because these flying foxes are everywhere. In 2015 a bloke who happened to be jogging down the road was attacked by a bat in Mackay, in the northern beaches. It was only because of the heightened awareness that resulted from the death of that young fellow that this guy had all the injections and everything to stop him from catching whatever this flying fox might have imparted.

We have got to this ridiculous stage where the flying fox seems to have more rights than the human beings that are in that area and are under attack, literally, from being bitten and scratched. They are under attack from the smell, the defecation and the urination—all that goes on from these vile creatures. I have to say, enough is enough. We need to empower communities and individual people to be able to deal with relocating these creatures, or else they are just going to come out and start shooting them when the law turns away and when there is no-one there looking. It will turn law-abiding citizens into criminals unless we can find a way forward.

I think that a lot of it is going to have to fall upon the federal environment minister, and the department here, making certain recommendations around what can be done in terms of relocating these creatures, because they are a so-called protected species. Again, I say: come up my way. There are so many of them. You hear them every night. You will see them in just about every tree. I come from a little town called Te Kowai just outside of Mackay. You walk outside and you can hear them. It is like this cacophony of flying foxes. They are everywhere. So they might be an endangered species in terms of their spread across all of Australia, but not in north Queensland.

Debate adjourned.