Protecting Wombat Burrows
Tuesday 13 June 2023
Second Reading Debate - National Parks and Wildlife (Wombat Burrows) Amendment Bill 2022
Ms CLANCY (Elder) (12:45): I rise today in support of the National Parks and Wildlife (Wombat Burrows) Amendment Bill 2022. In today's climate of 24/7 news coverage, regular opinion polls and 10-second sound bites, I think it is a fair cop that parliaments right across the democratic world can sometimes get caught up trying to get that next vote, but it is imperative that, as representatives, we represent not just those who are the loudest but also those who cannot speak at all. Today, we get to do that in this place and provide a voice to our fluffy, four-legged friends who contribute so much to our communities and our economy without saying anything at all.
This bill is designed to give additional protections to what I would consider one of our cutest four-legged friends—wombats. I would like to start by thanking the Hon. Tammy Franks MLC, who is in the gallery today, for introducing this bill to the other place, and I extend my appreciation to her staff, as well as to community organisations, particularly the Wombat Awareness Organisation, which worked incredibly hard on the bill we find before us today.
As the member for Bragg pointed out, South Australia is home to two species of wombat: the southern hairy-nosed wombat and the common or bare-nosed wombat. Beloved by our state, the hairy-nosed wombat was made South Australia's faunal emblem in 1970. All muscle, these powerful and skilled diggers can grow to be one metre long and weigh as much as 32 kilos—if they were a dog, I reckon with a solid build like that they would be a staffy—and young hairy-nosed wombats will live in their mother's burrow for almost three years.
Its bare-nosed cousin, the common wombat—a term I feel does not give them the credit they deserve; it almost feels as if it is the wombat version of calling someone basic, but I digress—is recognised as a rare species under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. Both species are protected under the act, meaning that no person can kill, injure or capture a wombat without a permit. Provisions relating to the ill-treatment of animals such as wombats can also be found in the Animal Welfare Act 1985.
Despite these protections, South Australians will be rightfully disgusted to learn that as many as a dozen wombats are believed to be buried alive in our state each and every week. South Australian wombats are being buried alive as a form of eradication. Despite their aforementioned strength, wombats cannot dig themselves out of a destroyed burrow, becoming entombed and suffocating for up to 21 days before eventually passing away.
It has become clear to me, as it has to many in this place and the other, that the existing protections for our beloved wombats are simply not enough. More than 50,000 people have signed the Wombat Awareness Organisation's petition to stop wombats from being buried alive, and today the Malinauskas Labor government sees that call and will legislate to protect wombats and their homes.
I understand that to support this bill in the other place the government introduced further amendments to the bill, which were supported by the mover. The first was to insert a provision that landholders are permitted to destroy a wombat burrow without a permit only where it poses a risk to human safety, stock, farming crops and machinery or infrastructure. This provision would not derogate from the requirement of compliance with the National Parks and Wildlife Act or the Animal Welfare Act.
The other main amendment was to allow the minister to declare a wombat burrow protection zone, a geographical area were a person must not, without a permit granted by the minister, destroy, damage or disturb the burrow of a wombat. These provisions are focused on protecting safety, infrastructure and industry and are not intended to enable unreasonable damage to wombat burrows.
As the Department for Environment and Water suggests, we must continue to encourage a 'living with wildlife' approach to how people think about and interact with wildlife. The fact is that the destruction of wombat burrows is rarely effective when undertaken as the only means of managing their impact on farmers and landowners. A range of nonlethal methods of wombat management is recommended to landowners, including but not limited to fence alterations, wombat gates and marking burrows.
Where burrow destruction is permitted, it must only be done in accordance with the relevant code of practice for humane destruction. Destroying a burrow with the intent to kill an animal is simply not in line with the values of the overwhelming majority of South Australians and would likely be an offence under the National Parks and Wildlife Act and the Animal Welfare Act. However, by passing this bill, we can make it explicitly clear to farmers and landowners that this behaviour will not be tolerated.
This bill also provides us with an opportunity to increase compliance and education efforts to raise awareness for the nonlethal methods of wombat management and to reduce identified risks and impacts and the inefficiency of destroying wombat burrows in isolation from other management methods to reduce risks and impacts to safety and machinery.
Before I wrap up, I want to take this opportunity to provide some fun facts about wombats. As I am sure many of you know, and I know a number of my colleagues know, their poos are cube shaped and, still focusing on their rear ends, they use their bums to block their burrows to keep predators away. A group of wombats is known as a wisdom, and wombats can run at 40 km/h. If you are looking for more wombat content, I really encourage you to follow the CSIRO on Instagram for their weekly wombat doses, which are on Wombat Wednesday. How good is it that you only have one sleep to wait for the next one!
Once again, I would like to thank the Hon. Tammy Franks MLC for introducing this bill in the other place, and I thank everyone who has taken a stand to protect this South Australian icon. I look forward to seeing the successful passage of this bill under a new, more compassionate state government, and I commend this bill to the house. Go wombats!
