Dingo neglect hidden: Elmes

The plight of Fraser Island dingoes has been reported to UNESCO.

Contributed

D-minus – that is the mark Shadow Minister for Sustainability Glen Elmes has given government bureaucrats attempts to preserve Fraser Island’s natural values and its dingoes.

And Mr Elmes said the plight of the native dogs had been reported to UNESCO, which formally declares World Heritage areas like Fraser.

This fail rating was given to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in State Parliament on Tuesday, with the Member for Noosa accusing “this discredited” department of sanitising and covering up its neglect.

“The department at best rates a D-minus when compared against what should be their bible – the Nature Conservation Act,” Mr Elmes said in his Fraser Island report.

“We have finally seen the introduction of tag-along tours, yet this proposal was first put to government around 10 years ago.

“How many accidents and deaths could have been avoided?”

Mr Elmes said the island’s water quality continued to be degraded due to human activity from around 380,000 visitors a year.

“Both human waste and chemicals from sun creams affect some of the perched lakes, while human waste and rubbish left in the bush behind camping areas along the beach, at Indian Head and elsewhere, has become a pollution and health problem.”

But Mr Elmes was most critical of the plight of the dingo, and accused DERM and the State Government of engaging in a media campaign, complete with happy snaps, to conceal their poor state.

Part of the LNP solution on Fraser includes:

• resting parts of the island on a rotational basis for a couple of months each year;
• local stakeholders and indigenous people to engage and educate visitors;
• re-instatement of funding for the Eurong sewerage plant; and a humane approach to dingo management.

But Mr Elmes does not have the support of Fraser Island Association president David Anderson when it comes to his claims of dingo mismanagement or toxic camp sites from too many visitors.

Mr Anderson agreed with the DERM dingo report showing natural weight fluctuations in dingoes, and said he had even taken photos of a young dingo minutes apart with one angle making it look gaunt and another quite healthy.

And he said one scientific study showing large amounts of faeces and urine at dunal campsites needed to be examined by other scientists, because he believed the results would not bear close scrutiny.

Mr Anderson said DERM had already closed down two camping grounds for four months to help relieve human pressures, before reopening them.