Page 3620 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 22 November 2022
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(d) the response to currently identified threats to the ACT’s bee and other pollinators population including but not limited to:
(i) insufficient diversity in public and private planting stock;
(ii) the potential for commercially available bee hotels to be unsuitable for native bees;
(iii) the identification and implementation of potential methods of pest control which are alternatives to pesticides but are currently not used in the ACT;
(iv) the methods for safely and properly disposing of domestic herbicides and pesticides; and
(v) any other relevant information;
(e) current biosecurity threats and the Government’s response to an endemic threat;
(f) how Canberrans are educated on the importance and role of bees and other pollinators within our environment; and
(g) ongoing activities and potential opportunities where the ACT Government and Canberra community can collaborate to better protect our bees and other pollinators; and
(4) calls on the ACT Government to report back to the Assembly on points (3)(a) to (3)(g) by World Bee Day on Saturday 20 May 2023.
I rise today to speak to the motion on the notice paper in Ms Orr’s name to report on our bee and other pollinator’s population. I acknowledge many of us go about our day to day lives never really considering how fundamental bees are to our lives and the environment as a whole. To put it simply, bees are part of the biodiversity on which we all depend for our own survival.
Bees have the role of being pollinators. For anyone who is unaware or needs a reminder, pollination is the movement of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same or a different flower. Pollination is required for plants to reproduce and helps prevent in-breeding. This process needs to occur for you to enjoy your favourite flowers. For a more important and serious example, this process needs to occur for the pollination of food crops.
I do not think I need to emphasise how fundamental food crops are in providing for us. There are over 20,000 species of bee that exist globally and Australia is home to around 2,000 of these native species. These bees have co-evolved with our unique native flora over thousands of years. Australian native bees do not store nectar and therefore, they generally do not produce honey. At least not in extractable amounts.
European honeybees were introduced into Australia for this exact reason, to produce honey. Unfortunately, European honeybees take resources needed by native birds and animals, including taking over hollows and other places they also like to call their homes. However, they pollinate some of our crops and many of our native plants. They have become a fundamental part of both our food production and the pollination of flora in our gardens and the bush since they were introduced. European honeybees have been present in Australia for around 200 years now but their distribution and
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