Page 437 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 June 1989
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before the Assembly, and I hope that the ACT can place itself in the forefront of animal welfare legislation in Australia.
The final matter to which I wish to draw the Assembly's attention is the general need for legislation of this nature. Australia could lose 250 plants and animal species in the next 10 years unless preservation plans are put into effect.
Many of those losses are due to loss of habitat. This is particularly true of bird species. Of the world's 10,000 known bird species, some 1,000 are threatened with extinction. In Australia, some 19 species of native vertebrates have become extinct, and a further 78 vertebrate species are now endangered. The same is true of plant species, with some 10 per cent of our native flora now in danger of extinction.
Protection of Australian flora is particularly important as 85 per cent of the 28,000 plant species in Australia are found nowhere else in the world. It is vital that the ACT plays its part in providing a sanctuary for bird and animal species. The Liberals believe that the ACT must play a leading role in nature conservation.
To this end, Mr Speaker, I welcome the Federal Government's long overdue initiative in October last year establishing an endangered species unit within the Australian Parks and Wildlife Service and an endangered species advisory committee. I certainly hope that that somewhat bureaucratic response is successful, at least in some small way, in countering the problem of endangered species.
Mr Speaker, I am happy to support the legislation and I hope the Minister will ensure conservation is a higher priority in this Government, as it certainly would be in our Liberal administration. On the question of amendments to the Bill, which I have foreshadowed already, I might indicate that, although the Opposition has no difficulties in general with the thrust of the legislation, it has some difficulties with particular aspects of the penalties relating to certain offences.
I draw one particular section to the attention of the Assembly as an example: proposed section 42, clause 23 of the Bill, provides that a person shall not pick a plant which has special protection status or which is wildlife growing on unleased land.
The penalty provided there can be as high as $10,000 or imprisonment for five years or, in the case of unprotected plants, $5,000 or imprisonment for two years, or both. I have to say, Mr Speaker, I find that penalty a little on the extreme side. I have also considered other penalties provided for in this legislation. I am not convinced that they are entirely appropriate, and I indicate at this stage that the Opposition will be moving that the detail stage of
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