Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We are debating here today, as a matter of public interest, a very, very serious issue: the maintenance of koalas in this nation—koalas being an extraordinary symbol of this nation, along with kangaroos and emus. They are national symbols of this nation that we must preserve. Someone who introduced me to politics was Bill Heffernan. Bill was a legendry representative of country people. Bill used to say that his worst nightmare was a Country Liberal who lived on 20 acres of land around Queanbeyan. Sadly for Bill, I live on 20 acres of land just to the south of Queanbeyan. I think this is a very important issue, but it's a poor MPI. We are a federation, and federations have responsibility at different levels. Certainly this federal government has responsibilities, and it's my contention that, in fact, we do exercise those through the legislation that exists at the moment.

Senator Faruqi spoke of ecocide. We do have problems in these areas. But these problems are not decimation in the sense of one-tenth—you explained that to us—yet your MPI says we have decimated the population. You make the case that we have done worse than decimate the population. We have an opportunity going into the future to solve this problem. As some senators might be aware, I spent much of my life in the military. In the military we tend to conduct exercises in pristine forests. We tend to conduct exercises where stillness and quietness allow us to actually understand the bush. I probably spent as much time in the bush as Senator 'Wacka' Williams has spent in the bush. It's a wild contention, but I think it's arguable. We in the military have many training areas which are very, very pristine areas. Ironically, the activities that we conduct in military training areas allow us to preserve those areas for the preservation of wildlife—koalas, kangaroos, emus, a vast range of Australia's animals. For example, Shoalwater Bay training area, just north of Rockhampton—we're not talking about New South Wales, but it's exactly the same around Holsworthy—is one of the most pristine areas that exists, for the simple reason that grazing animals are kept out of it.

But, as in so much in life, I think we have to get a balance. Balance with the national symbols of this country is very, very important. We can do it, and this government, in coordination with the state government, is in fact doing it. Liberals, especially conservatives, value the natural environment. As conservatives, we understand that the natural environment has been around for an awfully long time. We understand the value of that natural environment. We understand that in the natural environment in which we live balance is all important.

Symbols are also extraordinarily important to our national identity. When tourists seek to visit this country, they look for two things. They look for kangaroos and koalas. I wake up almost every morning—quite often in this place I leave before it gets light—but when I can actually see, I have probably 80 kangaroos on my Bill Heffernan-type broad acres of 20 acres.