Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today, I stand here to speak for the hardworking people of regional and remote SA. We are facing a huge crisis. Feral animals are tearing apart our beautiful land. From the APY Lands to our far north-east borders, pests are destroying our farms, our native bush and our transport roads. Kangaroos, pigs, dogs, brumbies, camels, cats, rabbits, wombats, deer and goats are all causing significant damage. The people in Canberra do not want to admit how bad this problem is, but the families of the farmers living out there see the awful truth every single day. We must act to fix this crisis now before it is too late for everyone.

Right now, there are more than 300,000 feral camels wandering all across Australia. In the APY Lands, they smash fences and drain our precious water. The Labor government and the greenies have completely dropped the ball. Numbers are out of control. With some of these species, we have a value chain. We can't just rely on helicopters shooting at them. That's a terrible waste. Instead, we must fund the mustering of these camels to export them. We have a fantastic but empty abattoir in Peterborough. We could use it to turn a massive pest into a good trade. I acknowledge the current trade they have with the Turkiye Defence Force at the abattoir in Peterborough.

It's not just camels that are causing trouble. Out at Quondong Station, the owners are fighting a hard war against tens of thousands of feral goats. The farm property covers 147,000 hectares. Already this year they have had to cull 5,000 goats. Goats strip the ground bare. They even reach up to eat the leaves on trees. But it costs too much money to round them up. A whole truckload of goats might only sell for $1,500. That does not even begin to pay for the diesel, the motorbikes or the workers needed to catch them.

Then we have feral pigs. They are spreading fast, even moving into the northern Flinders Ranges. These pigs cost our farming sector $160,000 every single year. They are tough animals. A single pig can have litters of 13 piglets multiple times a year. They take over water troughs. They even eat newborn lambs. People are now seeing them wandering into our towns like Hawker, Quorn and Coober Pedy.

Feral deer are just as bad. A few years ago we had 40,000 deer across South Australia. Hard work has removed 28,000 of them, but the rest are breeding fast. Down in the south-east and the Adelaide Hills, they break fences, eat crops and cause crashes on our roads.

I want to take a moment to thank the great work of the Foundation for Rabbit Free Australia. Rabbits remain our worst pest. They threaten 300 species and cost our farmers over $200 million every single year. Groups like Rabbit Free Australia do vital work to protect our native bilby and fight back against the rabbit plague.

I also want to praise our local graziers, our wildlife experts and our traditional owners. They fight this tough battle every single day. To do this, they rely on firearms. We must have a commonsense approach to guns for licensed farmers and locals. Their daily pest control is the only thing stopping these animal numbers from exploding between big government culls. We must not create silly rules that stop them from doing this important work.

Our farmers are tired. Our land is hurting. These feral pests threaten our roads, our towns and our whole way of life. It is time for Canberra to wake up and listen to the locals to fund real culling solutions—solutions like the Peterborough abattoir. We cannot afford to wait another single minute. Action is required right now from our leaders. Let us protect our great state.

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