Government Myrtle Rust Disaster Threatens Koalas and Native Species

02/02/12

The Hon John Cobb MP
Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security

Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, John Cobb has exposed yet another Gillard Government bungle, with evidence that not one cent of the $1.5 million allocated to the management of Myrtle Rust has been spent on controlling the disease.

“Commonwealth funding is sitting idle as the disease continues to spread and even basic information for the management of the disease is not available [i],” Mr Cobb said.

“Due to Labor’s ignorance and inaction, the latest casualty of the rampant disease is now The Forest Red Gum (Eucalyptus Tereticornis), the major food source for Koalas.

“Myrtle Rust will trigger the end for some of our iconic koala populations and hasten its inclusion in the endangered species list - yet the Gillard Government doesn’t care!

“Other Mytacae species are also likely to be wiped out as the disease continues to spread unchecked, having now infected the entire east coast of Australia; Rhodomyrtus psidioides, Rhodamnia maideniana, Rhodamnia angusttifolia, and Gossia gonociada are all rare and endangered species being devastated by Myrtle Rust and their extinction seems now just a matter of time.

“How much longer will this go on? Will the Government wait until our native flora and fauna species have become extinct?

“Our Federal Bureaucrats have instead wasted time attempting to justify previous inaction rather than implementing strategies to combat the disease spreading.

“Once again the Gillard Government’s shameful disregard for biosecurity and the government’s inability to deal with Labor’s own Beale review, which found our border defences are ‘significantly under-resourced’, has been exposed.

“Myrtle Rust has the capacity to devastate our biodiversity. It will irreversibly alter the make up of our native species on a scale that will make climate change seem irrelevant.

“It will bankrupt our nurseries and commercial timber plantations and cost this nation billions.

“The Gillard Government must immediately act to manage this disease and utilise the allocated funding or Koalas and many other native plant and animal species will face a very uncertain future.”