Category Archives: EPBC Act

Proposed wildlife trade operation for the export of kangaroo skins derived from the expanded Victorian Kangaroo Petfood Trial 2016–18

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The Department of the Environment of Energy has received an application for a Wildlife Trade Operation under part 13A, section 303FN of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act). The application is for the commercial export of Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo skins from Victoria.

Should the operation be approved it is proposed that it remain in force for up to three (3) years.

The so-called Pet-food trial of kangaroo meat in Victoria has now morphed into a kangaroo skin trade!

Victorian Petfood Processors (Vic) P/L have sought a permit by the Federal Government to export Kangaroo skins.

This is the reason behind the dramatic increase of Kangaroos killed under an ATCW permit.
Please take the time to download and read the this proposal, (link above) you will find the link under ‘download’.
The Victorian Government is asking for ‘comment’ about the proposal.  So, just allow ATCW open-season, and surprise, the meat and skins are going to “waste” and now become commercial resources!

How many “comments” have already been given about this so-called pet food “trial” of kangaroo meat, and trial that was never meant to fail?

Comments should be addressed to:

The Director
Wildlife Trade Assessments
Department of the Environment
GPO Box 787
CANBERRA ACT 2601

or can be emailed to: wta@environment.gov.au

The genocide will continue of our graceful, peaceful native kangaroos, and the killing disguised as an “industry”!

Formerly, Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said he did not expect the processing of Victorian kangaroos to lead to any more kangaroos being killed in Victoria.

‘‘It will not mean any increase in the wildlife control permits at all, it is just utilising the waste that is there from the current controls,’’ he said.  Mr Walsh said the shot kangaroos would only be used for pet food and there were no plans to use kangaroos culled in Victoria for table meat.

Please write to the above address, or email, giving your opinion and supporting our iconic kangaroos – and their contribution to our environment/heritage.

Some things to comment on:

– A 1980s C.S.I.R.O. aerial survey of kangaroos in western Victoria (Short & Grigg, 1982, Aust. Wildl. Res. 9 : 221-27) surveyed virtually all the habitat of the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) and the western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) in the state.

This survey revealed a surprisingly low total number and density of kangaroos in western Victoria which the authors directly attributed to the effects of intensive land use and the marginal nature of remnant vegetation.

– More importantly, however, the CSIRO. study questioned the whole basis of kangaroo management and commercialization in Victoria with its keystone principle of agricultural wildlife destruction permits issued under Section 5 of the Wildlife Act 1975. How can it be considered “sustainable” now?

– cruelty – how are land-owners with firearms meant to humanely kill kangaroos?  Horrendous injuries have been seen, with animals surviving and dying horribly

– kangaroos are co-existed with our ecology and landscape for hundreds of thousands of years, and are not “feral” or “pest” species

– the problem is the liberal and excessive distribution of ATCW permits!  Landholders are morally obliged to pursue ALL non-lethal options BEFORE killing!  Now, they kill and call it a meat and skin industry?  This is not damage control, but commercial profits!

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Hon Liliana (Lily) D’Ambrosio

D'AmbrosioLily58250

– The “trail” was never to fail, and it’s “helping to reduce waste by processing more than 30,000 kangaroos for pet food and creating jobs for regional Victoria,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.  So the farmers can kill up to 30,000 kangaroos in Victoria, calling it a “harvest”, and then instead of “waste” it’s now commercially viable as meat and skins?  More like a self-fulfilling wildlife “management” that’s designed to morph into profits!

– Kangaroos are our iconic wildlife national animals, clearly identifying Australia on our flags and coins.  Now they are just valued as skin and meat?  What about being custodians of these animals, and honouring them?  They are natural landscape managers and help reduce fire risks – not animals to be demonized and eradicated.

 

 

 

 

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PROTECT KOALAS AND QUOLLS. ASK FEDERAL MP GREG HUNT TO SAY NO TO INDUSTRY AT NORTH MACLEAN

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Logan & Albert Conservation Association

TO: THE HONOURABLE GREG HUNT, MP, FEDERAL MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Dear Minister Hunt,

Please reject the development application for the proposed North Maclean Enterprise Precinct at North Maclean, South-East Queensland which involves clearing 289 acres of koala and quoll habitat.

PROTECT KOALAS AND QUOLLS

Ask Federal MP Greg Hunt to SAY NO TO INDUSTRY AT NORTH MACLEAN

Why is this important?
Since 1996, the environmental concerns raised by the community at North Maclean and Munruben have never been addressed. There have been numerous sightings of vulnerable Koalas on and around the property. There have been numerous sightings of endangered Spotted-Tailed Quolls in adjacent properties – these quoll sightings have been the first in the Greater Brisbane Area since the 1930s . Quoll roadkill has been collected from the area confirming the presence of quolls in this area. The proposed site provides valuable habitat for koalas, quolls and other threatened species including the endangered grey headed flying fox, the Swift Parrot and the vunerable Glossy Black Cockatoo.

There have been no detailed impact assessments of industry on these vulnerable/threatened species. No frog or reptile studies have ever been carried out.

By signing the petition, you are asking Minister Greg Hunt to REJECT the North Maclean Enterprise (Industry) Precinct proposal. You will be giving our unique Koalas, Spotted-tailed Quolls and other endangered/Vulnerable wildlife of North Maclean and Munruben a chance of survival.

NMEP-view-area-east-end-RosinaEd-west-side-precinct2

If this development application is approved at North Maclean, 117 hectares (approx. 289 acres) of koala food and shelter habitat will be totally cleared. The major threat to koalas is the loss of habitat. This vast proposed site is only 45% of what is eventually planned for the koala habitat of North Maclean. This current application is a dangerous precedent in the area that should not be approved.

Sign the Petition

Join the Facebook Group!

The site, owned by Wearco Pty Ltd, is subject to a Federal Government environmental assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act with a decision about the future of the corridor to be handed down on August 31.

The site is projected by Logan City Council to bring 27,350 jobs to the area and an estimated $1.2 billion a year to the ­region’s economy.

“Jobs” and “economic growth” are eating away at our environment and native species’ habitats.

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The species that defeated the Carmichael coal mine

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The Abbott government is pushing its plan to change environment laws after so-called “vigilante litigation” overturned the massive Carmichael coal mine. The plan was defeated because the Federal court found Environment Minister Greg Hunt had not properly considered advice about two threatened species, the yakka skink and the ornamental snake. The law requires that the Minister consider these conservation advices so that he understands the impacts of the decision that he is making on matters of National Environmental Significance, in this case the threatened species.

Yakka Skink

The yakka skink is a robust lizard around the same size as a blue tongue lizard. The average size from head to tail tip is 40cm, making it one of the largest skinks in the region. Its body colour ranges from pale to dark brown, usually with a broad dark brown stripe extending along the back from the neck to the tail. Yakka skinks occur in a wide variety of vegetation types including poplar box, ironbark, brigalow, white cypress pine, mulga, bendee and lancewood woodlands and open forests. Substrates include rock, sand, clay and loamy red earth.

skink

(image: Australia Zoo )

Ornamental Snake

The Ornamental Snake is a brown, grey-brown or black snake growing up to 50 cm in length with lighter coloured body scales, often with darker streaks/flecks. The crown of the head is darker brown/black with lighter flecks, it has distinctly barred lips, a white/cream belly with dark spots/flecks on the outer edges, and smooth scales (Cogger 2000). The Ornamental Snake’s preferred habitat is within, or close to, habitat that is favoured by its prey – frogs. The species is known to prefer woodlands and open forests associated with moist areas, particularly gilgai (melon-hole) mounds and depressions in Queensland Regional Ecosystem Land Zone 4, but also lake margins and wetlands.

Coiled-ornamental-snake

(image: Ornamental snake )

The country’s top legal officer, Attorney General George Brandis, wants to make it harder for people to challenge large scale developments like the Adani coal mine.

Australia is already infamous for species extinctions and threatening processes. The area is the home of the endangered Black-throated finch, threatened Waxy Cabbage Palm, the Mellaluka Springs and koalas. These are important to the case because they are each expected to be impacted by the mine should it proceed.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the mine, and Adani’s environmental track record, had not been taken into account. “Not taken into account” would be the new “norm” if our government had its way!

The plan to change environment laws to stop green groups mounting legal challenges to big developments is an admission that our environmental policies and protective laws are not entrenched, or enshrined, as part of our constitution, but vulnerable to political sway and corporate pressure.   The incremental process of dismantling our biodiversity protection policies, and environmental security, can’t be compensated for by economic benefits.

Abbott’s rant of “jobs and growth” is shallow, self-destructive and counter-productive if our life-supporting environment, natural resources and heritage are all obliterated in the process.

(featured image: Black-throated Finch. The southern race of the Black-throated Finch is listed as Endangered under national, Queensland and NSW laws. It is thought to have become extinct in NSW, where it was last seen in 1994 and according to the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team, the extent of its occurrence has contracted by 80 per cent over the last 30 years.)

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