Barnaby Joyce (New England, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water. Fire ants are currently on the march from Brisbane. We'll have a huge issue, obviously, if it gets out, with a reduction in the cattle herd—a reduction of around 40 per cent. It'll be one of the most devastating things that happens to the fauna of Australia, from koalas and echidnas to basically anything that travels along the ground. It's going to be devastating to the lifestyle of Australian people. We need funding by MYEFO. What is your plan?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question effectively goes to the need to be able to cull feral animals, and the member for New England—

Barnaby Joyce (New England, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Fire ants.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, fire ants! Sorry, I thought you said firearms. I apologise.

That's what I thought! It's fire ants, and I know the challenges in Queensland with fire ants, which have been going on for decades now. There have been many occasions where people have claimed that we should simply accept the damage, and that's a claim that was put to me when I was environment minister way back in 2010. The view of the government then and the view of the Albanese Labor government is we need to continue the fight because of the extraordinary damage that those fire ants do.

In that time, notwithstanding all the attempts at containment that had been involved in government funding back then—government funding that I think started under the Howard government that continued during the nine years when the member was, on and off, the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia—the containment funding has continued, as it has continued under us, no-one has been able to successfully prevent the spread. That said, were it not for the containment funding that has been given, we would be in a much worse situation in Queensland with respect to fire ants than where we are now.

The intention of the government and the commitment to be able to continue to do what is possible on that invasive species remains. There has never been an invasive species where we've successfully—you'll find very few examples—eradicated it. That doesn't mean that the efforts that are made with respect to containment aren't worth doing. They do make a difference, and that's why they continue.