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Vote 1: Stop invasive species

Here’s news about the policies you won’t find on any party website. The results from our invasive species pre-election survey are now in.
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ISC-election-score-2016-overall-2

Here’s news about the policies you won’t find on any party website. The results from our invasive species pre-election survey are now in.

The 2016 federal election is proving to be more interesting than the 2013 election when it comes to invasive species. Last year’s Senate inquiry on the subject has clearly helped.

Invasive species are one of the greatest threats facing Australia’s natural environment, and we believe they should be high on the political agenda, especially during an election.

The Greens are the standout party, with an ‘excellent’ rating for their commitments to stop new invasive species. Labor has improved significantly from ‘poor’ to ‘fair’. The Coalition has slipped from ‘weak’ to ‘poor’.

We are pleased the Greens and Labor have both backed implementing the Senate environmental biosecurity inquiry recommendations. While the inquiry report received unanimous support from senators from all parties, the Coalition government did not formally respond to it during the last term of government.

More than 12 months has passed since the release of the report.

[toggle title_open=”See less” title_closed=”See our full scorecard >>” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]ISC-election-score-2016-2

KEY

YES = Promised to implement initiative in full. Refer to individual responses.
NO = No.
NO/? Unknown

NOTES

  1. The Coalition proposal for $20 million over 5 years for Invasive Species Solutions research centre will only address invasive animals.
  2. While Labor answered yes to this question in their response to our survey, there is no funding commitment or detailed policy to support it.
  3. Coalition action to reduce the impact of feral cats is taking place as part of the 2015 Threatened Species Strategy.
  4. The Coalition promised to eradicate feral cats from five islands, with $500,000 each for Bruny and Kangaroo islands.
  5. The Greens’ response is conditional on biosecurity reforms not being successful after five years
  6. The Greens promised $17.5M for yellow crazy ant eradication from Cairns and Kuranda. There is no information about their position on other yellow crazy ant infestations or red imported fire ants.
  7. Labor answered yes to this question in their response to our survey but so far have only publicly promised $7.5M of the $11M shortfall of funds for yellow crazy ants from Cairns and Kuranda.
  8. The Coalition promised $7.5M of the $11M shortfall of funds for yellow crazy ants from Cairns and Kuranda. There is no information available about the Coalition position on red imported fire ants. Opposed to funding eradication of other infestations of yellow crazy ants.
  9. The Greens’ response is conditional on biosecurity reforms not being successful after five years.
  10. Under a Coalition government, the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources confirmed in 2015 that a national State of Biosecurity report will be prepared but there has been no public statement about this. Preliminary work commenced in 2016.

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Greens mean business

The Greens have backed 9 and a half of our 12 proposals, with two receiving qualified endorsement as being necessary only if their broader reforms fail to make a difference after five years. The response to the invasive ants question is partly met with $17.5 million for yellow crazy ant eradication.

The Greens have gone further than the 12 priority issues in our survey. They support an independent biosecurity authority and expert commission as recommended in the 2008 Beale independent biosecurity review. This is something we have long advocated.

In a sign of the maturity of their invasive species policies, the Greens’ promises referred to in our survey have been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office. The Greens say their biosecurity policy will be released in the coming days.

Good score for Labor

Labor has strengthened its response to environmental biosecurity, no doubt promoted by their leadership of the 2014-15 Senate inquiry. Their support for all of the inquiry recommendations is important because they will address many of the structural failings that currently lead to weak environmental biosecurity.

Labor’s standout policy is their proposal to establish an Australian Institute for Biosecurity. This will give a permanent home for biosecurity research to replace the soon to be abolished Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and resurrect the long-ago abolished Weeds CRC.

The institute has a starting yearly budget of $25 million and will cover weeds, pathogens, animals and aquatic and marine pests.

We are pleased to see Labor’s support for a plan to reduce the net environmental impact of invasive species, but without policy details and costings it is difficult to see how this can be achieved, especially since Labor’s survey response appears to rely on the Institute for Biosecurity to deliver this.

Labor’s backing for the eradication of red imported fire ants and yellow crazy ants from Australia is encouraging, yet so far they have promised only $7.5 million for yellow crazy ant eradication from the Cairns area, $4.5 million short of the needed funds.

Coalition steps backwards

The Liberal and National coalition did not answer our survey. The Liberals simply referred to their online policy platform, which at our deadline said very little about biosecurity and invasive species, while the Nationals didn’t respond before our extended deadline despite initially confirming they could meet our deadline. The National Party released their agriculture policy hours before our publishing deadline and has been checked. (Update: A Coalition response was provided on 28 Jun 2016)

The Coalition’s marine pests plan and their agricultural policy address only two of our survey priorities. The marine plan includes action on ballast water and biofouling and initial steps for implementation were underway prior to the election being called. The agriculture policy includes a proposal for a $5 million per year Invasive Animals Solutions centre, extending the life of the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, but failing to address research in weeds, insect pests, pathogens and marine and aquatic pests.

The Coalition have gone backwards in our scoring from the last election, when they promised to set up our proposed Environment Health Australia. Once in government they backed down on this promise. They also severely cut public interest research funding.

A positive step not scored is the 2015 Agriculture Competitiveness White Paper that offers $300 million for biosecurity and pest management initiatives. It remains to be seen how much will be spent on environmental priorities. In May, $1.3 million of these funds were promised for invasive ants in Queensland. Separately, there has been strong action on reducing the threat from feral cats and a promise of $7.5 million for yellow crazy ant eradication from the Cairns area.

In 2015 the Coalition was considering making an ‘environmental biosecurity policy statement’, but nothing concrete has emerged.

Lazarus and Wilkie commit to strong biosecurity

As well as the Coalition, Greens and Labor, our election survey was sent to all minor parties and independents in the current Parliament.

Andrew Wilkie, independent member for Denison in Tasmania achieved a perfect score by supporting all of our proposals, including the establishment of a national research centre for invasive species, funding the eradication of red fire ants and yellow crazy ants. The Glenn Lazarus Team supported all our proposals with two minor qualifications. The party prefer the Minister for the Environment to oversee biosecurity, a superior position to the proposal in our question while the work of our proposed national research centre would be undertaken by existing institutions.

Family First were the only other party to reply, scoring a weak 3 out of 12.

Further updates

There may be more policy promises released in the dying days of the election campaign.

We’ll update this piece and post to our Facebook page and Twitter feed if there are any significant new developments.

Update 1: 24 Jun 2016. Adjusted footnote to Greens response to yellow crazy ant and red imported fire ant question following the release of the Greens policy to fund the Cairns yellow crazy ant eradication. The scoring was unaffected.

Update 2: 27 Jun 2016: The Labor Party released their agriculture policy. This has been added under ‘Key Sources’. The scoring was unaffected.

Update 3: 28 Jun 2016: The Coalition survey response was received. The reply has been added under the ‘Key Sources’. The scoring was unaffected.

Update 4: 29 Jun 2016: The Greens released their agriculture and biosecurity policy. This has been added under ‘Key Sources’. The scoring was unaffected.

About the survey

The survey was based on questions in the Invasive Species Policy Document: Invasive Species Priorities 2016.

The questions represent seven areas of broad priority interest and five additional issues relating to specific initiatives.

The survey was sent to political parties and independents on 24 May 2016 requesting a response by 14 June. A follow-up reminder was sent on 15 June and the date for responding was extended to the close of business 22 June 2016. All offices were contacted directly to endeavour to check if they received the survey.

A survey was sent to each parties with elected members and elected independents in Parliament prior to the election being called. Due to capacity and timing issues, surveys were not sent to all parties contesting the election. Surveys were sent to:

• Australian Labor Party
• Australian Greens
• Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party
• Family First Party
• Glenn Lazarus Team
• Jacqui Lambie Network
• Liberal Democratics
• Liberal Party of Australia
• National Party of Australia
• Nick Xenophon Team
• Palmer United Party
• Senator John Madigan (independent)
• Andrew Wilkie MP (independent)

Scoring was based on survey responses, relevant party policy and media statements and, for the governing Coalition government, policies and activities while in government. Also considered was the clarity of policies and responses and the extent to which a response meets the stated goal for each survey question.

Key sources

The Invasive Species Council is an independent, science-based organisation. Authorised by Andrew Cox, 88b Station St, Fairfield Vic 3078.

Election graphic: Photo licence-CC BY-SA 3.0

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Hear from us when it matters

Your support to protect critically endangered and vulnerable species from extinction is vital. Together, we can ensure governments prioritise action on invasive species and protect our wildlife and iconic places.

The Invasive Species Council was formed in 2002 to seek stronger laws, policies and programs to protect nature from harmful pests, weeds and diseases.

The Invasive Species Council acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia and their connections to land and sea. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

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Your gift is a lifeline for nature.

Our protected areas are being trashed, trampled, choked and polluted by an onslaught of invaders. Invasive species are already the overwhelming driver of our animal extinction rate, and are expected to cause 75 of the next 100 extinctions.

But you can help to turn this around and create a wildlife revival in Australia.

From numbats to night parrots, a tax-deductible donation today can help defend our wildlife against the threat of invasive weeds, predators, and diseases.

As the only national advocacy environment group dedicated to stopping this mega threat, your gift will make a big difference.

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A silent crisis is unfolding across Australia. Every year, billions of native animals are hunted and killed by cats and foxes. Fire ants continue to spread and threaten human health. And the deadly strain of bird flu looms on the horizon. Your donation today will be used to put the invasive species threat in the media, make invasive species a government priority, ensure governments take rapid action to protect nature and our remarkable native wildlife from invasives-led extinction, death and destruction.

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    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]