Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – Thank you, honourable Speaker. The Greens moved this Matter of Public Importance today because, as we’ve heard from members across the Chamber, Tasmanians dearly love our birds. They bring us incredible joy. It’s hard to imagine what a day in the life of any one of us here would be like without the sounds of birds, the view of birds. They are just the most gorgeous living creatures, and we have so many birds endemic to Tasmania that exist nowhere else on earth. We are the last state in the last continent where bird flu has arrived. Yesterday 11 cases were reported. I want to thank the incident control team who are working on the response to bird flu for the briefings that they’ve provided to members of parliament, and the detail that they have been forthcoming with.
It’s very clear that there are a range of things that can be done now that can improve the likelihood of birds under threat surviving from bird flu. That being said, the lethality of bird flu is very, very high for an individual bird. In populations that are known to be at highest likely risk of bird flu in Tasmania, which at the moment are understood to be shorebirds and waterfowl, there are things that can be done to minimise the risk of bird flu spreading to colonies in the first place. Those are the things that we paid particular attention to with the Department of Natural Resources and Environemnt staff, discussing with them what the options are. We’re pleased to hear that they’re developing species plans for priority species, but to be clear, at the moment what’s being proposed is a review of what’s known and options, which is not the same thing as a plan. We certainly look forward to those species plans being developed in detail in very near days. Clearly, we have a range of birds in Tasmania that are already critically endangered, endangered, or threatened. Those need to be a target area.
We have spoken about the importance of protecting conservation areas where shorebirds and waterfowl already spend time. There are some obvious places in Tasmania. This is not a closed list, but the ones that we have been talking to staff about include the Orford Bird Sanctuary, Moulting Lagoon, the North St Helens Conservation Area, the Furneaux Islands, and Governor Island for the crested tern on the east coast, which Ms Badger has talked about previously. There are many more places, but these ones in particular are areas where, for example, the Orford Bird Sanctuary is vulnerable because people take dogs off leash on the beach. At the moment that’s allowed, but dogs off leash on beaches in Tasmania are a risk to birds in terms of spreading bird flu because they like to poke their noses into dead animals. That is a high-risk activity in terms of a dog unwittingly spreading the bird flu virus to other species, other birds. That’s clearly something where there needs to be strong regulations to prohibit dogs off leash on certain beaches, and real widespread education for all dog owners to keep dogs on leashes on beaches.
We are also very welcoming of the investigations into crop protection permits, which are handed out to landowners to shoot or otherwise kill, through various methods, birds and other animals. We strongly support the investigation to prohibit crop protection permits for black swans, cormorants, white cockatoos, and for other birds that are at risk of bird flu. We want to make sure that the public is encouraged to continue providing information to the department. I strongly support people ringing 1800 675 888.
