Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in the Main Committee today to express my condolences in relation to the sad passing of Steve Irwin, whom I have known for many years. In particular, I would like to pass my best wishes on to his wife, Terri, and to his two children, Bindi and Bob, and to other members of his family.

I have known Steve ever since he employed maybe three or four people, and I have spoken to him over the years. He gave my son Nick work experience at the Australia Zoo. My most recent contact with Australia Zoo was when Terri Irwin took strong exception to some comments I made in relation to the culling of crocodiles and the possibility of bringing in big game hunters to pay a bounty on crocodiles that were to be culled anyway, with the $25,000 bounty to be spent on Indigenous Australians. My view was that, if the crocodiles were to be culled anyway, if they could be culled in a way that benefited Indigenous Australians, that would be a positive thing. Terri rang me to summon me down to Australia Zoo to dress me down, provide me with lunch and take me on a tour to show me what they had recently achieved. Sadly, Bob, their boy, was ill and Terri and I did not get to catch up, and we have not caught up since.

A few years ago I bought an acreage block at Buderim and a rather large carpet python came and consumed three of my ducks and then got caught in the wire. I did not know that Steve Irwin was as famous in America as he was, because he was not at that stage as famous here in Australia. That happened at about the end of 1997 or 1998. I rang Australia Zoo to get a bit of help and Steve Irwin turned up with his truck to take away the snake. He caught the snake very quickly. I was very impressed with how he did that. But he only took it a kilometre away, and the snake came back and got some more ducks, so I had to catch it myself the next time. I drove it off and released it 20 kilometres away in the electorate of Longman, very close to Australia Zoo—and, because of the way their reptiles were looked after, maybe the snake got inside.

Having said that, Steve Irwin was an Australian icon. He was someone who I have supported publicly, and someone who has been a victim of the tall poppy syndrome. He has been criticised on occasions quite wrongly. He was a passionate environmentalist. He spent huge amounts of money looking after our flora and fauna, and he never advertised the fact that he did so much. I think his loss is one of the greatest tragedies that we have experienced in recent times. I was very pleased that both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition yesterday, on indulgence, passed their condolences on to the family.