Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The presence of feral deer is a growing issue around our country. These deer cause significant economic and environmental damage. Their consumption of and damage to crops, pastures and saplings cost our primary producers many millions of dollars every year. In fact, a feral deer can eat twice as much as a sheep. They also ruin fences and damage other infrastructure. Environmentally, deer have a profound impact on the composition of plant species in our natural environment. They predate on young trees and damage or destroy mature trees by ringbarking and are also responsible for spreading noxious weeds. They also contribute to erosion and degrade the water quality of our creeks and river systems. Feral deer also pose significant biosecurity risks as carriers of disease.

In South Australia feral deer numbers have reached a tipping point, and we now need to ramp up efforts to reduce their numbers. The aerial abatement program is the most effective way to remove large numbers of deer from our landscape. Since aerial abatement programs began on the Limestone Coast in 2009, more than 12,000 deer have been removed. We need to increase these abatement efforts to see numbers reduced adequately. I am fighting to see this funding program boosted on the Limestone Coast so we can get on top of this noxious problem.