Thursday, 28 August 2025

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (23:30): (1901) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment, and the action I seek is for him to urgently reinstate funding to ensure the continuation of Mange Management Victoria’s life-saving work. This small, volunteer-run organisation has carried the weight of a problem the government has long overlooked: the devastating spread of sarcoptic mange in our wombat populations. Mange is caused by a parasitic mite that burrows into the skin of wombats. It leads to relentless itching, fur loss, blindness, secondary infections and a slow and excruciating death. There is no natural recovery. Without treatment every wombat infected will die of mange. In my electorate and across Victoria thousands of wombats suffer this fate each and every year. It is both a welfare crisis and a conservation concern because localised wombat populations can collapse entirely as a result of it. We are talking about one of our most iconic native animals, the bare-nosed wombat, enduring preventable cruelty on a mass scale. Mange Management has stepped into this void. They have pioneered innovative, community-based treatment programs, creating accessible kits that allow landholders, wildlife carers, farmers and rescue volunteers to administer simple but effective mange treatment in the field. This approach has been critical to stopping the spread of the disease and giving infected wombats a chance to survive and to recover.

Previously, the Animal Justice Party was able to secure four years of funding for their work at quite a modest cost, and it was quite literally the difference between life and death for wombats in our state. This year that funding expired, and the government rejected our request for it to continue. Despite their track record and despite the enormous demand for their services, their funding lifeline has been cut. Volunteers are now left scrambling to hold back a wave of suffering with dwindling resources when they should be supported and scaled up. The community should not be expected to carry the burden of this entirely alone. Wombats are a public good, they are part of Victoria’s biodiversity and they are part of our natural heritage. It is unacceptable that their survival depends solely on unpaid labour and donations. So the action I seek is that the government urgently reinstate ongoing funding for Mange Management Victoria and commit to a broader statewide strategy for sarcoptic mange management. We need a plan that matches the scale of this crisis and prevents thousands more wombats from enduring an agonising, preventable death.