Wild pig control
Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (19:04): (923) My adjournment tonight is to the Minister for Environment, and the action I seek is for him to confirm that feral pig controls in the east of the state will continue with standalone contractors and not be incorporated into the wild dog program. The rumours that we are hearing are that at the end of this financial year these standalone contractors will be no longer. Pigs are a huge problem in the east of the state. These feral animals are vectors of disease; they pose great threats to our agricultural sector. If the plan is to incorporate them into the wild dog program, there are two problems with that. One is that the wild doggers that control that area do not have spare time on their hands to be focusing on a new species. They need every hour of every day being put into controlling wild dogs on public land that are out of control, killing stock hand over fist, and we simply cannot have their workload being increased. The second issue is the feral pig problem that we have. The contractors that are there now cannot keep up with the spread of this species, so we need an increased effort there, not a reduced effort. We have read in the Weekly Times in particular in recent weeks but throughout a number of media that there are job cuts at the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and Parks Victoria, including the pest, plant and animal program. So I seek assurances from the minister that there will be no diminished effort in the feral pig control program and that it will not be incorporated into the wild dog program.