Thursday, 15 August 2019

 Mr MEDDICK (Western Victoria) (12:25): My question is for the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change in the other place. The Australian red kangaroo is a magnificent animal. They are the largest terrestrial mammal native to Australia and the largest extant marsupial. They can reach a height of 2.1 metres and can cover 8 to 9 metres in a single bound. Their colour matches the ochre-red landscape of central Australia, and my political party adopted a shade of red on our branding to match it. Seven species of macropod are extinct, six more species are critically endangered, 10 more are endangered and a further 23 species are threatened or vulnerable. In 2017 government-funded surveys found only 23 individuals and extrapolated from there to estimate a population in Victoria of 13 000, against which they issued permits to shoot and kill 15 187, some 2000-odd more than they claim existed. How can the minister be sure she is not going to enable the red kangaroo to be the next macropod shot to extinction in Victoria?

 Mr JENNINGS (South Eastern Metropolitan—Leader of the Government, Special Minister of State, Minister for Priority Precincts, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs) (12:26): I thank Mr Meddick for his question. Whilst I will always rely on any additional information that my colleague may be able to provide, funnily enough I recently have seen some material that I might be able to share with the chamber about the issues that you have raised. I understand the significance of this glorious species that you described and its status in terms of being a species that is worthy of protection and ongoing consideration about the sustainability of the population.

The good news that I can report to the house is in fact that what Mr Meddick has described—the red kangaroo habitat—actually spreads throughout semi-arid regions not only in Victoria, right up in the north-west corner, but also through South Australia and central Australia and indeed into Western Australia. The other good news I can share with the chamber is that the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which is responsible for establishing a checklist of threatened species across the planet, does not have the red kangaroo on its red alert in terms of a species that, across the country, is at risk of extinction. There are many species across this nation that in fact are threatened with extinction, but not the red kangaroo. Now, that does not mean we should be complacent.

So what do we know about what Mr Meddick has said to us? In 2017 there was a survey undertaken which led to the results that Mr Meddick has indicated—an estimation of 13 000 in population. However, in 2018 there was a subsequent, more detailed survey undertaken, with a 95 per cent reliability factor, that estimated the population to be in excess of 40 000. In relation to the issuing of control permits—that is a colloquial phrase for the control of wildlife that enables species to be taken in terms of that registration and licensing arrangement to kill parts of the population—the estimation that the department has relied on and my ministerial colleague relies on is that 16 to 17 per cent of the population of the 44 000, from memory, is a sustainable cull of that population not only to protect the viability of the population in north-west Victoria but in fact to make sure that there is an eco balance within the sustainability of the parks regime in north-west Victoria. That is the policy reason: to keep the environment and the ecology in balance in terms of making sure that there is not overgrazing or other adverse consequences of a population that is too large. Now, that may not be something that Mr Meddick likes. I understand he and his constituents are very worried about that issue, but they are the facts in relation to— (Time expired)