Wednesday, 28 August 2024

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:13): (1092) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment. In September 2023 the Victorian government ordered an extension of the wild dog control program for only 12 months, and that extension ends on 1 October 2024, five weeks away. The action that I seek is for the minister to extend the current wild dog control program for at least another five years or preferably indefinitely. The control of wild dogs is crucial to prevent them attacking, maiming and killing the livestock of Victorian farmers. The control program includes a livestock protection buffer in north-east Victoria, which gives the state’s wild dog controllers the authority to bait and trap wild dogs on public land within a 3-kilometre radius of private farm fences. It was put in place in 2012 with great success. A decade ago trappers would catch 120 feral dogs a year, but now the number rarely tops 30. That low number does not mean the program is no longer needed; it means the program is working, and if the program stops, wild dog numbers and wild dog attacks on livestock will return to the much higher levels of previous decades.

Those who lived through the torment of the time before the buffer zone told me and my colleague the member for Benambra about herds decimated and animals left half eaten. They have told us about the toll on their mental health. They have told us about the impact on native animals as well as livestock, because wild dogs also prey on native species like possums, bandicoots and quolls. The 12-month extension was an interim measure to allow a comprehensive assessment of the dingo population across Victoria, but the government has done no significant consultation with farmers and has relied on a small study with an unrepresentative sample to infer dingo populations. This is not a sufficient evidence base on which to end the wild dog control program.

On 6 August this year the Minister for Agriculture met with representatives from the North East Wild Dog Action Group, the member for Benambra and members of the Duduroa Dhargal Aboriginal Corporation, but the decision does not lie with the agriculture minister; it lies with the Minister for Environment, who has not met with farmers or stakeholders in the region. The extension ends on 1 October, only five weeks away, and as the deadline gets closer without any consultation or communication from the responsible minister there is growing angst and worry amongst my constituents. The continuation of the program is crucial for the safety of native animals and livestock and for the people who live and work on land that borders on the dogs’ habitat. The traditional owners have written to the Minister for Environment in support of the wild dog control program continuing as it is currently run. I urge the minister to listen to these petitioners, to farmers and to the traditional owners.