David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians are good at many things, but conserving native fauna is not one of them. In the last 200 years, 11 per cent of our native mammals have become extinct. This is one of the worst conservation records in the world. There are species of kangaroos, wallabies, bilbies and potoroos—and of course the Tasmanian Tiger—that are no longer with us. According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a further 36 per cent of our remaining mammals have reason to be nervous about their prospects for survival. Some argue that we should simply throw more taxpayers' money into preservation, but that amounts to doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result.

The Commonwealth national parks agency, Parks Australia, spends nearly $70 million a year to look after just six terrestrial national parks. In terms of resources available per property, Parks Australia must be one of the world's richest national park organisations, yet Australia's last mammalian extinction is believed to have occurred on Christmas Island, one of the areas they manage. In 2009, attempts to capture a once-common small bat known as the Christmas Island pipistrelle failed. Writing about this in The Sydney Morning Herald in 2012, Professor Tim Flannery recalled asking the then environment minister, Peter Garrett, for assistance to save this species from extinction, only to be told that nothing needed to be done on the grounds it would survive if we looked after its environment. Now it appears the Christmas Island pipistrelle is a casualty of this fallacy, and its extinction may yet be remembered as the longest-lasting legacy of Mr Garrett's career in politics. This is ironic considering that, as lead singer of Midnight Oil, Mr Garrett once released an album called Species Deceases.

A study of Kakadu National Park, another park overseen by our well-resourced Commonwealth national parks agency, found that there has been a 71 per cent decline in the number of native animals over recent decades and that almost half of its area has no native mammals at all. In other words, national parks do not guarantee species survival because they and the animals in them belong to everyone, and they also belong to no-one. They have no value. Thus there is no incentive for anyone to keep them safe from predators, whether it is dogs, cats or foxes. Yes, they can be protected by building enclosures to keep these animals out, but the only source of funds for this is taxpayers. Private investment is uncommon. And yet the long-term survival of at least some Australian animals is assured because they are kept as household pets in other countries. Sugar gliders, certain species of wallabies and blue-tongued lizards are among them. This is because people take care of animals that belong to them. As it stands, Australians may freely own a pet that can and may in fact kill scores of native animals. They may also own a few varieties of snakes and native birds, such as budgies, galahs and cockatoos. Dingoes and a few native animals may be kept in some states on a strictly non-commercial basis. But the vast majority of our beautiful native mammals may not be kept as pets, and very few people can keep them if they want to.

Allowing native animals to be kept as pets will ensure their survival. Just as cats and dogs are in no danger of dying out, the same will be true if native animals are privately owned. It means they have value. Some who oppose keeping native animals as pets cite welfare concerns, saying they may not be well cared for. By that logic, we would have no pets. The experience overseas is that Australian animals, such as sugar gliders and blue-tongued lizards, live much longer in captivity than they do in the wild. In reality, most of those who oppose keeping native animals as pets are fundamentally opposed to private property. It is not about the animals but about ideology.

There is no disputing that some native animals may make unsuitable pets, at least in certain situations. Many are nocturnal, for example, which might require us to adjust our own sleeping habits to enjoy them. And obviously there is no suggestion of taking animals from the wild; like cats and dogs, and also like budgies, galahs and cockatoos, they need to be bred as pets. But, allowing for those considerations, widespread ownership of native animals as pets is something that should be promoted.

Sugar gliders could be owned by Australians as well as foreigners. Certain kinds of wallabies make great pets. The quoll may replace domestic cats. The bilby is often nominated as a great candidate for domestication. In the right circumstances, possums, Tasmanian devils, wombats, native rats, antechinus and bandicoots would also be great pets. My party, the Liberal Democrats, and our sister party in New South Wales, the Outdoor Recreation Party, believe Australians should be free to keep native animals as pets. And the sooner we are free to do so, the sooner the future of our native animals will be assured.