Ms BADGER (Lyons) – Honourable Deputy Speaker, I echo the sentiments that have already been shared and acknowledged by others in this place about the special number of endemic species found in Tasmania and nowhere else on the planet and, therefore, the custodianship that we here today have to protect those species when we are in a sixth mass extinction and a global biodiversity crisis.
The Tasmanian threatened species plans and that of which we have a draft for are good, but the heavy focus, as we have already heard, is on the protection of species and the growth of populations at risk. We also need, however, to look at the prevention of loss of species. Not just species that are already listed as threatened, but those that will become vulnerable and threatened listed in the not-too-distant future if the current rate of habitat loss across this state continues.
While we are upscaling prevention mechanisms and protection – all of this also falls under the national 2022-2032 threatened species action plan. The key of that calls for the protection of habitat. This is also what we saw in a recommendation from the State of the Environment Report that further stated that we needed to increase terrestrial protected areas. When was the last time Tasmania had a new national park? The list of areas that require urgent protection continues to grow; ecosystems that are only found here that are rapidly under threat and need proper protection through the World Heritage and National Parks as well.
I acknowledge what Ms Finlay, member for Bass, said about of private landholders and the roles that they are playing. There is an over-reliance at the moment from this government on them to do a lot of the heavy lifting and they often relies on philanthropic and in kind assistance to do what work they do. It is incredibly disappointing to see government run organisations such as Parks and Wildlife destroy habitat of threatened species for infrastructure that, frankly, could very easily go elsewhere. We saw it happen on Maria Island with a vast area of critical habitat for the swift parrot and forty spotted pardalote flattened for sewage works. It is simply inexcusable in the current biodiversity crisis.
As member for Braddon, Mr Garland, mentioned, the infrastructure that is going up, particularly around the north-west transmission lines – and what we are hearing from community members in Braddon and Lyons and the values that they know on their land that they have as citizen scientists, as custodians of their property, have listed such as wedge tailed eagles or the white morph grey goshawk, of which we know there are only 100 or more breeding pairs left across this state, that they know are on their property that are not being picked up by TasNetworks. It is simply not good enough.
In the prevention space, we must take serious action on invasive species and that is something that has been in the Tasmanian State of the Environment Report and also in the national threatened species action plan; and the key species to take action on is cats. We have just received a discussion paper – not the cat management plan, a discussion paper – seeking feedback on the 2022 cat management plan. It took 4 years for this government to get feedback on the success and failures of that plan? It is completely shameful. They have been sitting on their hands this whole time and we know with invasive species, the longer that you leave taking serious action, the worse the problem gets.
Onto what the work that private landholders are doing, I would also like to acknowledge the work of Landcare, who, in lieu of this government taking action on cats and coming up with a management plan, came up with a fantastic set of guidelines on how to deal with cats that is accessible to all people, no matter what municipality they might be in. The Tasmanian Land Conservancy and their ongoing work to save the Miena cider gum up in the central highlands. And the citizen scientists right across this state who are doing the work when government industries are failing, such as in logging croupes that are under threat, that is swift parrot habitat.
I also want to again raise the volunteer ranger programs. Since I asked a constituent question in the last sitting week, more and more people have come forward concerned that their local volunteer group in Parks is losing support from this government – be it in kind or direct financial assistance. These groups are helping to monitor our orange bellied parrot populations and running programs on Big Green Island, such as the rat eradication program which helped with the recovery of the Cape Barren geese. That is an award-winning project that we should be proud of and looking to emulate.
This government has so much more to do than good words and plans and we must see these fantastic programs invested in continually.
