Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is great to see somebody who has been educated by Wilderness Society propaganda! I am glad to see that the member for Wills has a focus on ecological things. Maybe he will be able to support me when I stand here as a voice for a couple of our very iconic marine species, our dugongs and our turtles. Maybe he can assist us in organising to get together a national dugong and turtle protection plan, something that has been neglected by the Labor Party for far too long. It would be great to save these natural wonders, to preserve these creatures so that our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren may actually have the opportunity to see one and know that they exist in the flesh.

On 7 October in Abu Dhabi, at a meeting for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, it was stated that the dugong is expected to face extinction globally within the next 40 years. It is estimated that over 2,000 of these beautiful creatures are being killed each year in Queensland waters alone. They are already starting to face extinction. In Mauritius, in Taiwan, in many of the straits of Indonesia and in many other parts of the world, the dugong has already suffered local extinction. It is going to happen in this area unless something is done at the national level, because the threats and the challenges to these magnificent species mean that we may have another Tasmanian tiger on our hands.

During the last election, Greg Hunt, our shadow minister for the environment, came to my electorate and, recognising the threats and the challenges, announced a $2.6 million program to start to look at dealing with the challenges to these animals, including $1 million towards marine debris clearance and setting up a program to help us to start to know what we are dealing with with our dugongs—because unfortunately there is absolutely no idea of the numbers that are there at the moment. There has been no census done of these creatures. Working with traditional owners—not dealing with propaganda but dealing with facts—I am sure we can get to an understanding of the status of these animals. It is very, very important that we start to do this. We need to first of all put a moratorium in place that stops the taking of these creatures and then use the knowledge of traditional people in their areas to work with the scientists to get a very accurate census of the numbers of these animals. If we do not do this now, we are also going to be robbing our traditional people of an opportunity to participate in one of their native title rights, because these animals will be disappearing in the not too distant future.

There are people who have been out there calling for support, and I would like to recognise particularly James Epong, a traditional Indigenous leader from south of Cairns who has been doing lot of work in this area. His group has already put in a ban on the taking of dugongs and is very keen to participate in a census of these creatures. Colin Riddell, a good friend of mine in Cairns, has now for a long time been putting a lot of pressure on the government to try to get them to start doing something there. There is Bob Irwin, a good friend of mine who I have known for 30-odd years, I remind the member for Wills. I also knew his son when he left school, so I know the family very well. Bob has been 100 per cent behind this. Derryn Hinch, like the member for Wills, is from Melbourne and is a keen environmentalist, but he deals in facts. He is also behind it. I appreciate the member for Ryan, Jane Prentice, talking on this today, and I join the shadow environment minister, Greg Hunt, in calling for a national dugong and turtle protection plan. If we do not start to do something now, if we do not put that moratorium in and start doing the numbers now, there will be no dugongs and no turtles to count in another 30 or 40 years, and Australia will be a much sadder place for the loss of these most magnificent creatures.