Wednesday, 18 February 2026

 Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (10:31): On a committee report this morning I want to make reference to page 49 of the 2023–24 budget estimates, and the topic that I want to talk on is: key issues in the agriculture portfolio. It is a wild dog or dingo issue that I want to speak on, one that I have mentioned many times in this chamber and one that annually costs Victorian farmers between $13 million and $18 million. I want to talk about some of the research in this area.

A couple of years back there was some research done where we were told that all of the dingoes in Victoria were primarily purebred animals. Dr Kylie Cairns completed some work – and actually sent me an email – that said that updated DNA testing using 195,000 DNA markers found that in Victoria 87 per cent – 87 per cent – of the animals tested were dingoes with no dog ancestry, with the remaining animals all carrying more than 85 per cent DNA. It was pretty clear. I was told that the evidence was in and it needed to be accepted. This of course was challenged by a number of local farmers who believed that was not the case. In an area I know you are familiar with, Deputy Speaker, up in the Tambo Valley, where your ancestors hailed from, I attended public meetings in Omeo and also up at Gelantipy, where this was refuted, but the clear message was: accept the science.

However, just prior to Christmas a new report was released. This was led by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich geneticist Lachie Scarsbrook and 26 other researchers, and it had some very interesting findings. It is very, very current, given it is only about seven weeks old. Some of the findings of the study are:

We also showed that many dingoes, particularly those from Southeast Australia –

that is our area –

experienced admixture with European dogs … the majority of gene flow events coincided with the initiation of landscape-scale population control in the 1960s.

…

European dogs (including kangaroo hounds) are known to have accompanied colonists who traversed Australia’s interior and coastline, and Edward John Eyre’s expedition reached the Nullarbor region as early as 1841 … European expeditions, livestock stations, and Aboriginal trade networks could have all acted as sources of domestic dog ancestry. We also detected significant –

gene –

… sharing between dingoes and the kangaroo hound … as well as an Australian Cattle Dog …

Interesting. It seems to be in direct contrast to the finding of Dr Cairns. It says that many dingoes, particularly those from south-east Australia, experienced admixture with European dogs:

Our results illustrate how European colonization, through the introduction of dogs, invasive species, and land use changes, impacted both the ancestry and ecology of dingoes.

Finally, it says:

… Our study … reveals evidence for widespread interbreeding across Australia prior to the 21st century.

It seems that the study that was originally done by Dr Cairns did not include precolonial dingo DNA. I emailed Dr Cairns over a month ago to ask her about what appears to be conflicting findings, and surprisingly I have not had a response to that. But I did note one comment she made in a recent article, and that was:

We want dingoes left in national parks for the benefits to the ecosystem and not living on farms where they can do damage.

We certainly agree with that. They are important to our ecology – no argument there. But we also must be allowed to control their numbers on the farmland interface where they are killing stock. That is a discussion that I will not get into this morning but one that I will cover off on in a contribution over the next few sitting weeks, because we still have very, very, very significant stock losses occurring now in East Gippsland, with dog numbers out of control.

Before I finish, I wish to refer to page 133 and the reference to the mining industry in Victoria. I was coming into the chamber today to ask the minister to ensure the Fingerboards proposal in my electorate underwent a full environment effects statement, but I was told this morning that it actually got announced yesterday afternoon. As the minister knows, I have written to her twice in recent months asking for this to occur, given that there was a previous project in the same area that failed the EES. It is the outcome that my community wants, and I now hope for full transparency in that process.