Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Prime Minister for passing through that question from the member for Kennedy. We've had many discussions in person about his love of the land in Queensland, his genuine commitment to improving land management in Queensland and his concern for invasive species, because there's no doubt they are having a serious impact in Queensland and elsewhere around the country.

That is why, since coming to government, we have strengthened our biosecurity system—because we do know that we want to stop more pests and disease from getting into the country. We've now invested around $2 billion in doing that. Can I say that we also work closely with states and territories, and, as the member for Kennedy would be aware, it is the responsibility of those respective states and territories to do the invasive species management on the ground in those states where the invasive species are. In the past, the former federal government offered some funding in relation to the prickly acacia, which I understand he's concerned about.

In terms of the feral pigs, we have actually provided funding to Australian Pork to host the National Feral Pig Coordinator, which is a program we just announced we will extend so that it can better coordinate with the states and territories about how they can manage on the ground the feral pig population across the country. We have invested $3.87 million as part of a National Feral Pig Action Plan that will run through to 2031. So we are investing with states and territories to make sure we can manage some of these feral species around the country. We're doing it with feral pigs and a whole range of other species, but it is primarily the responsibility of the states and territories. Our job, of course, is biosecurity which we're investing more in. We've put more biosecurity detector dogs on the beat as well.

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