Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Water. How is the Albanese Labor government acting to protect Australia's threatened species? What are the threats facing our native plants and animals?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Makin, who I know is a great fan of our beautiful Australian wildlife. We saw members of parliament from both sides today, from this chamber and the other place, visiting our wonderful animals brought into parliament by Aussie Ark, Wildbark, Priam, the Australian National Botanic Gardens and ACT Wildlife, bringing those animals and plants in for Threatened Species Day.

I want to thank the conservationists who brought the animals in, the scientists who came in today and the volunteers who care for injured animals. We saw them bring in little Tassie devils, Charlie and Lola, Pebbles the wombat, Banjo the blue-tongue lizard, Marshmallow the python, a glossy black cockatoo called Fifty, Marla the joey and a range of other very beautiful Australian animals. It really was a celebration of native wildlife today, so thank you to those who brought the animals in and thank you to the members of parliament who came along to see them.

Threatened Species Day has a very serious message as well, and today we released a number of additional documents that will better protect our threatened species, including a document for consultation on how we deal with the enormous threat that is feral cats in Australia. We know that cats kill about six million animals in Australia every night. We know that they've played a role in about two-thirds of extinctions that have already occurred in Australia and there are about another 200 animals on the threatened species list that are vulnerable to cat predation.

We're releasing a consultation document, because we know that, of course, there is a role for the Commonwealth government, there is a role for state and territory governments and there is very certainly a role for local councils and other organisations in dealing with the threat posed by cats attacking native animals. We saw a great example of one of the responses to feral cat predation, and that was the Felixer machine, which we are seeing rolled out across Australia to deal with feral cats. We want to make sure that we provide cat-free environments, islands and fenced areas and other solutions to prevent feral cats attacking Australian animals. Our government is investing $500 million in protecting against these threats. (Time expired)