Ms BADGER (Lyons) – Deputy Speaker, oh dear. Yet again, the Liberals have completely neglected to take proper action on invasive species management and to protect our unique natural places in Lutruwita/Tasmania. We are devastated for the Seymour Community Action Group, Quentin Smith and his crew who have seen their wetlands restoration project damaged by invasive deer. For decades the Seymour community have been restoring their local wetlands. They have been removing gorse and replanting native vegetation. This community has done such a tremendous and high quality degree of work that their wetland site has actually recently been included into the bordering conservation area.
Despite the 2024 State of Environment report calling for the removal of the archaic colonial protections placed on fallow deer, and the proper resourcing of biosecurity efforts and the restoration and monitoring of critical wetland ecosystems, the Liberals have done nothing, so the problems continue to proliferate. The community should not be copping the costs of this government’s negligence to manage invasive species.
A few weeks ago, the Greens tabled in this place a petition on behalf of the community in Mole Creek, and that was for seeking a special fund for land owners adversely affected by the damage that was specifically caused by rabbits. But there should be a fund for all impacts by invasive species that are not being adequately managed. This government is yet to respond, but we hope they do so positively because the impacts that we are seeing across our communities is far too much. No, money cannot compensate for the years of hard work that have been lost and for volunteer work that has been lost in cases such as that at Seymour. But at the very least it can ensure that people are not out of pocket for remediation in extreme circumstances.
Not only are the Liberals evasive on supporting land-owners disproportionately affected by the damage caused by invasive species, they also seem to have abandoned efforts to safeguard the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area. In 2021, the Tasmanian government received $440,000 from the federal government through the Australian Heritage Grants Project. This was for a project to survey and eradicate deer within the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. Come 2025, the Tasmanian government was again successful in being awarded funding through that same program, but this time they applied for and were granted less money which is to be thinly spread across deer and cat monitoring and weed control in key areas.
In 2021, the funding was awarded for the surveying and eradication of deer within the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. This time that funding is just for undertaking monitoring and to detect deer presence and assess the impacts. This current project is for monitoring deer, it is for cats and it is also for foxglove, which we welcome the new listing of. We have to ensure that there is support to undertake the management now that it is listed. We have to make sure that there is funding to go all the way to protecting the outstanding, universal, natural and cultural values of the TWWHA.
Not to do so simply suggests that the Liberals might just be walking away from the Tasmanian Wild Fallow Deer Implementation Strategy of 2022-2027, which prioritises eradicating deer from the World Heritage Area national parks, not just monitoring the destruction they are causing. Climate change is predicted to facilitate the further expansion of the deer population into the Tasmanian wilderness, but this government is as silent on climate action as they are on the 2024 – 2029 Cat Management Plan. I checked again just before coming in here and it still does not exist. Speaking of the Cat Management Plan, what is the government doing to ensure the wildlife carers and cat-management facilities have the funding that they need to support and comply with the Cat Management Act of 2009?
We are hearing stories of cat-management facilities with waiting lists of over six months. They are simply being overwhelmed. They are being overwhelmed by the people who are doing the right thing under the act and turning in unwanted cats or kittens to the registered facilities. What is the government currently doing to enforce its own legislation and penalise those who do not do the right thing, who are doing the wrong thing and dumping or abandoning cats and kittens and making that problem worse?
The Liberals must come clean with their long-term plan to protect the wilderness; come clean on deer management and eradication, and on other invasive species such as cats and foxglove. The Greens are again calling on the Liberal government to urgently step up and take action on invasives. That includes providing support for land-owners and community groups and investing in proper biosecurity measures for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
