Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Wild dog control

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (22:23): (966) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Agriculture and concerns the recent decision by the Australasian Mammal Taxonomy Consortium, AMTC, to consider the dingo not as a subspecies of wolf, Canis lupus dingo, but instead an ancient breed of dog, Canis familiaris. The AMTC’s position reflects the view of 20 of the nation’s foremost evolutionary biologists from universities and museums across Australia. The decision is in line with the conclusion of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which in 2019 determined that the dingo is a breed of dog, hence removing it from the red list of threatened species.

There should be little surprise this matter is still arguable – and not just because of politics. The essential problem is that domestic dogs and dingoes evolved relatively recently and have not had enough generations to evolve into distinct and separate species. Their common ancestor, the grey wolf, evolved 1 million to 2 million years ago, but estimates for the first domestication of dogs range from 20,000 to 40,000 years ago. Dingoes in Australia evolved from a population of domestic dogs that became feral after arriving in Australia around 4000 to 5000 years ago. The oldest fossil evidence points to their presence 4000 years ago, while genetic evidence could stretch this to 8000 years. It is thought they arrived either with the help of humans or by themselves, crossing the Australia–Papua New Guinea land bridge before it was submerged approximately 8000 years ago.

Indigenous oral tradition too and the distinct terms used in different Indigenous languages point to dingoes being introduced many tens of thousands of years more recently than the arrival of the earliest Aboriginal settlers. This should not be controversial, and it really should have very little impact on the debate. I only offer it as a corrective to the bizarrely ideological fantasists who appear in some regrettable circumstances to elevate the dingo to the status of an untouchable deity. These developments do not mean that all dingoes should be culled – far from it. Like any other species, they should be managed appropriately.

The action I seek from the minister is confirmation that the Victorian government accepts the AMTC’s view and a commitment that appropriate control and management of dingoes as wild dogs will remain in place across Victoria indefinitely.