Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the subject of cane toads. When members of this place think of the federal electorate of Kalgoorlie, they think of gold mining, agriculture, a resources boom and thousands of square kilometres of desert. Very soon the cane toad will be added to that list. For those who do not know the history of the cane toad, 110 of these highly toxic amphibians were introduced to Australia to control beetles in the sugarcane industry in 1935. As with many introduced species, it was a good theory. But they not only failed to control the beetles; cane toads themselves have become a major pest. I know this firsthand, as the threat to Western Australia is one I take very seriously, unlike—I am disappointed but not surprised to say—the Western Australian government.

I mention the work of the member for Kimberley, Carol Martin, who is the only state member showing any willingness to assist in this sea of neglect by a Perth-centric parliament. The Western Australian state government provides considerable funds to a Perth based group called Stop the Toad Foundation. This is despite the debatable value of its work, after $500,000 was spent on an awareness campaign which resulted in a mere 45 calls in five months.

I prefer action to ads and support the Kimberley Toad Busters from Kununurra, a voluntary community group which has gone out every weekend for the past 16 months collecting the toads. The community volunteers, of whom there are now more than 1,000, have literally picked up more than 70,000 adults, tens of thousands of eggs, tadpoles and metamorphs. Their management plan is to hold the cane toad front line by picking them up, putting them in plastic bags and euthanasing them with CO until such time as scientists can find a biological solution. I travelled with them earlier this month to Victoria River station to support the group’s effort, see the problem firsthand and help collect toads. I managed to pick up 400 that night. Between us we picked up some 2,500. No-one knows exactly how many cane toads there are in Australia. In fact, we know relatively little about them and their habits. We know they live up to 20 years and females lay as many as 30,000 eggs at a time and may lay two batches a year. We do not know how they decide which direction to travel, but we know they are headed for Western Australia and they are now just 100 kilometres from the Western Australian border.

The threat was first brought to my attention by Sos Johnston of Broome, who was the candidate for the 2004 local election in Kununurra. He foresaw the problem. Once these advancing waves hit the Ord catchment, there will be no stopping the destruction of the fauna resources so vital to the popularity of Kimberley tourism. The natural diversity of the pristine Kimberley region, already impacted by uncontrolled wildfires, is at real risk of being destroyed by the absolutely toxic effect of cane toads. The damage they cause is widely documented, but for those who are unaware of their enormous capacity for wrecking everything in their path I will outline a few cane toad facts.

Cane toads are poisonous in all stages of their life and kill every animal that preys on them. The venom produced by the parotoid glands acts principally on the heart. Animals do not necessarily have to eat them; putting the cane toad in their mouth is enough. Cane toads can survive the loss of up to 50 per cent of their body water and can survive temperatures ranging from five to 40 degrees Celsius. Cane toads not only kill native animals, including crocodiles, snakes and lizards, but compete for food, shelter and breeding grounds. A preliminary risk assessment of cane toads in Kakadu National Park released by the Department of the Environment and Heritage in 2002 reported that 151 predator species were at risk from their advance. Concerning the health risk posed to humans, cane toads are not yet known to have caused any human deaths.

The toad busters work is hard, hot and vital until our scientists come up with a biological solution. Discussions I have had with the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, the Hon. Ian Campbell, have secured over $300,000 for the Kimberley Toad Busters to manage the on-ground problem. Their work is making a real difference to slowing down the toad’s progress, and they can use more support from the federal government. I applaud Minister Campbell for his support, but I believe more can and must be done. This is the most effective strategy so far.

At the moment, the toad busters go out in one group, but I think they have enough experience and capacity to split into three groups and cover a greater area. So instead of one group going out 52 times a year, we could have two or three groups out 52 times a year. For this, they need money. As I said, the toad busters are a voluntary group, but equipment is still required to support them with the cost of fuel and food. I will continue to lobby on behalf of the toad busters for that funding, because it will be too late to do something about it once the cane toads enter the Ord River catchment then progress almost immediately into the Kununurra area. That will see the Kimberley, with its vast range of fauna, wiped out as a tourist destination. I applaud the effort of the Kununurra based Kimberley Toad Busters. (Time expired)