Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the grand final is over; Queensland won—sorry about that! The season is over. A thousand North Queensland Rugby League players are bored. And you know, PM, an idle mind is the devil's workshop. In some of the last jungles left on Earth, three million pigs are destroying our fauna and flora. Please give the boys back their rifles and licensed—I emphasise 'licensed'—access to national parks. Prime Minister, you'll rescue the now doomed cassowary and the North Queensland turtle. Give the boys back their air rifles. You may even eliminate some of the 2,000 million toads in North Queensland. Prime Minister, it's too late for the Rabbitohs—sorry, sorry!—and don't worry about the pests in this place. Please would you worry about the pests in North Queensland?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order?

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

 Well, I think, Speaker, you know my point of order already. You just finished reading standing order 100(d), which says that questions may not contain arguments, inferences, imputations, insults, ironical expressions or hypothetical matter.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, the question was about pest management, at the end. The actual question was about pest management. So, it's completely within order. And the difference between the questions, if you want to get into it, Manager, is that the member for Kennedy wasn't specifying any person. He didn't mention any person. That's the difference. So, there's a difference in the previous question when it's about a person. That's an important point to make to the House.

No way, member for Kennedy! No chance! The Prime Minister has the call.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am concerned about pests; I assure the House of that. And I know that this is a really serious issue around our national parks, and not just around regional Queensland but right around the country. Some time ago I visited the Northern Territory, with the Cattlemen's Association, looking at the issue of feral pigs there. It is devastating the country and having a real impact on our wildlife, and therefore it is something that we do take seriously.

I will ask the minister for agriculture, though, to supplement—although I will say to the member for Kennedy that, as a South Sydney supporter, we've been 40 years in a drought, and we always have hope! And we have something that those on this side of the House have in abundance: it's called loyalty.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to 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.