THE time for talk is over – it’s time for the Queensland government to bite the bullet and put the funds for vermin control provided as part of the federal government’s drought relief package into hard infrastructure.
That’s the opinion of federal Member for Maranoa Bruce Scott who said that other wild dog control strategies were failing and that physical barriers were becoming increasingly relied on to manage the problem.
“I have made representations to see if we can get something lasting with the money allocated, something like the fencing projects at Morven and Tambo.
“I think we could look at a dozen cells or so.
“They worked in the past and I see no reason why they wouldn’t again.”
Western shires have indicated their support for fencing as a control measure, giving in principle support to the proposed erection of wild dog fences around the region’s mixed breeding country when they met at the recent Western Queensland Local Government Association conference at Tambo.
The motion from the Barcoo shire originally concentrated on support for the 1300km fence proposed to enclose sections of Blackall-Tambo, Barcaldine, Longreach and Barcoo shires, but was altered when delegates questioned the size and effectiveness of it.
Barcaldine’s deputy mayor Jenni Grey said her shire’s wild dog advisory group supported the honeycomb or cluster approach to fencing.
“We feel this might encourage more landholders to get involved,” she said.
Flinders mayor Greg Jones told the conference his shire had recently increased its levy to rural producers thanks to an increasing wild dog problem, and urged councillors to support the motion.
A separate motion from the Flinders shire, requesting the state government to urgently increase their financial contribution to local government, capped at $100,000 per council, and to provide financial assistance to regional groups for erecting wild dog exclusion fences, was also supported.
Sally Cripps
Journalist
Journalist
