Tuesday, 18 March 2025

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (00:38): (1520) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment and concerns the recent revelation of a previously secret dingo-breeding site in the Little Desert National Park. I have frequently raised here the frustration and anger Victorian farmers feel when Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) bureaucrats bend to activist groups and demonise farmers and their efforts to control wild dogs and dingoes, but this recent news is not just about dingoes, it is about trust, transparency and the livelihoods this government is putting at risk. Before the bushfire tore through the park, Wimmera farmers like John Bennett had no idea what was going on on their doorstep. As he said:

Had the bushfire not gone through that part of the park, a lot of locals are questioning whether we would have learnt of this arrangement at all …

DEECA said nothing, AgVic said nothing, Parks Victoria said nothing – not a word until flames forced the truth out. You can understand their concern. Some farmers reported sightings in the national park, which had been largely dingo free for many decades. However secure a breeding centre is supposed to be, accidents will happen. Livestock losses are not abstract; they are dollars and sleepless nights. This is not just poor communication; it is a failure of duty. Why were farmers not consulted? Where is the risk assessment they deserve? They are demanding a public meeting and rightly so. It is bad enough that the dingo unprotection order was dropped on them with no notice and no consultation. Now they find out that dingo breeding is occurring on their fence lines. The ABC report notes that the breeding site was run by the Australian Dingo Foundation on land leased by the Barengi Gadjin Land Council and operated under a DEECA permit. Given this, Minister, in the interests of trust and transparency I ask for your department to disclose the existence of and locations of any other authorised dingo-breeding operations. There can be no reasonable explanation for total secrecy here. On what ground can that be justified? I ask that your report includes as much information as possible as to who is authorised and who gave authorisation and when for all dingo keeping and breeding permits issued across Victoria.