Tuesday, 27 August 2024

Blackberry control

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:56): (1083) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Agriculture. It could well and does well overlap with the Minister for Environment, but I will direct it to the Minister for Agriculture. The topic of my concern and my constituents’ concern is the atrocious infestation of blackberries. Citizen scientists that I speak to – everyday scientists, everyday people – who live in my electorate and the northern part of the state are concerned that there is up to 1 million hectares of land covered with blackberries – that is both public and private land. There is indeed a Victorian Blackberry Taskforce that has been around for many years, with very good people on that, but the action I seek from the Minister for Agriculture is to do an audit of the blackberry program and provide additional resources, funding and personnel to actually tackle this significant environmental problem in our state.

There is huge degradation caused by blackberry infestation, and no less so than in the alpine ecosystems. As I said, the Minister for Environment has a role to play in this because blackberries do not understand land tenure and will grow anywhere and everywhere, including in our state forests and our national parks. Some of the areas that are impacted are Dargo and Woods Point, Baw Baw and Aberfeldy, Licola and Mount Skene, Avon wilderness, the Buffalo River, Dargo to Omeo, Swifts Creek, Ensay, Benambra, Mitta Mitta, Bruthen, Snowy River and the Alpine National Park bordering onto Kosciuszko National Park.

This government has been in government for 10 years, and there are many questions that are left unanswered as to why we are going backwards in this space. Indeed it is not just the infestation; it has an ecological point of view but also a social point of view. I spoke with people from Woods Point only last week, and it is as high as a horse’s head walking through footpaths along the water’s edge. So we have waterways and fragile ecosystems that are under threat. Sometimes in this place we hear about the threat to the environment. There is no greater threat to our public land, to our environment, than out-of-control bushfire, and if you have enough infestation of weeds, that creates fuel load, pests and weeds. This is one of the issues that is not going away. The government is losing traction on this, and I ask the Minister for Agriculture to work with her fellow minister and tackle the blackberry infestation in this state.