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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 866 asked in the Legislative Council on 9 September 2020 by Hon Peter Collier

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

PLANT AND ANIMAL PESTS — AUDITOR GENERAL'S REPORT

866. Hon PETER COLLIER to the Minister for Agriculture and Food:

This question is asked on behalf of Hon Dr Steve Thomas, who is on urgent parliamentary business.

I refer to the Auditor General's follow-up report entitled ''Managing the Impact of Plant and Animal Pests: Follow-Up'' of 31 August 2020, which identified that there are currently 56 declared pest species of plants and 30 declared pest species of animals.

(1) How many species of plants and animals were on the equivalent list of pest species when the government was elected in 2017?

(2) How many species of plants and animals have been removed from the equivalent list since the government was elected in 2017?

(3) Given that the minister's response to my question yesterday indicated her focus on exotic pests and diseases and apparent dismissal of the impact of endemic pests, has the minister and the government abandoned any real attempt to control existing pest species on Western Australian lands and waters?

Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:

I thank the member for the question.

(1) A review of the declared pests was undertaken in 2016 with a focus on ensuring that species declared under the former act qualified for listing under the new Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act. Any changes as a result of this review were implemented in late 2016–early 2017.

(2) Since the implementation of the 2016 declared pest review, the department has not delisted any pest under the BAM act. Several species have, however, been assessed for listing since 2017. These were either unlisted or their listing required review in light of new information. Since 2017, the department has declared at least 16 species to section 12, ''Prohibited organisms'', and at least 11 species to section 22(2) of the BAM act as declared pests. This has included feral cats and Amazon frogbit, highlighting the importance of these invasive species to the state in supporting government, industry and community action.

(3) The assumption of this question is without foundation. Although the member will be disappointed to hear that we will not be forming a hit squad to march on landowners in search of arum lilies, we have considerably increased our funding to the recognised biosecurity groups across the state to work with landowners to deal with these pests. We have also allocated $28.6 million towards wild dog control.

I will repeat: government resources are focused on protecting the state from the entry and establishment of new and establishing pests where the resources are more effectively and efficiently used. The control and management of widespread and established pests is the responsibility of landowners and is best controlled through a community-coordinated approach.