September 2019:

The Australian Society for Kangaroos has slammed the 2020-2024 South Australian Draft Kangaroo Management Plan and is calling for an urgent independent  inquiry into the South Australian government’s kangaroo management program to investigate significant conflicts of interest, misleading the public, lack of transparency and its failure to protect kangaroo populations from extreme cruelty and the catastrophic effects of climate change.

The Australian Society for Kangaroos has responded with harsh criticism to the South Australian government’s Draft  Plan in their 48 page submission declaring that the plan is based on a range of unsupported and misleading assertions and evidence that is riddled with conflicts of interest and inaccuracies. 

ASK claims in their submission that “the most striking feature of the Plan is the extent to which it attempts to pass off kangaroo slaughter as ecologically necessary and sustainable when in fact the commercial slaughter of kangaroos is borne out of purely political and commercial considerations designed solely to appease and enrich vested interests in the agricultural sector”.

The Australian Society for Kangaroos asserts that “the commercial kangaroo slaughter in South Australia is not an exercise in “sustainable use” wildlife management because it has no conservation benefit at all, but rather, it is an exercise in managing a natural resource which belongs to the entire community exclusively for the benefit of powerful vested commercial interests”. 

ASK goes further by stating that “the beneficiaries of the plan, the commercial kangaroo meat and skins industry, is a fundamentally flawed, unjustified, unethical and poorly governed industry that relies on public ignorance of the facts for its continued existence”.

In regard to the welfare of kangaroos and their young killed and orphaned under this plan, ASK says that “despite the Draft Plan’s claims that it ensures kangaroo slaughter under the Plan is humane, it does not even meet minimum community expectations in relation to the maintenance and enforcement of animal welfare standards”, and highlights “the very significant issues relating to the absence of any proper or effective system of monitoring compliance or enforcement under the Draft Plan including the absence of any system of oversight at the point of kill”.

“Nature is declining at an unprecedented rate in Australia putting entire ecosystems and wild species, including kangaroo populations, at risk of extinction within the next few decades. These trends can be halted but only if we, as a society, are prepared to make transformative changes to the way in which we value and interact with nature. That transformative change includes prioritising the health of ecosystems and wildlife populations over short term political expediency and commercial interests”, they claim.

“After 200 years of slaughter and exploitation, it is time that the welfare of kangaroos be taken out of the hands of hopelessly conflicted and inept state wildlife agencies such as DEW and placed ahead of the commercial interests of landholders and the agricultural sector.”

ASK concludes their submission by stating that “the Draft Plan is so deficient in meeting its own goals and aims that it should be set aside and recommends that all kangaroo slaughter in SA be suspended immediately pending the establishment of an urgent independent public inquiry into DEW’s management of its responsibilities in relation to its management of the commercial and non-commercial slaughter of kangaroos in South Australia”.

The Australian Society for Kangaroos is calling for the immediate suspension of  all kangaroo management under the current South Australian Kangaroo Management Plan 2018-2022 and the delay of the implementation of the Draft Plan 2020-2024.

PLEASE REFER BELOW FOR DETAILS OF OUR SUBMISSION

In our submission to the Draft we contend that:
• Despite the Draft Plan’s claim to be ecologically responsible, this program has no conservation benefit whatsoever;
• Despite the Draft Plan’s claim to have a robust regulatory framework, it is a weak system with deep and systemic flaws that is more accurately described as self-regulatory;
• Despite the Draft Plan’s claims that it ensures kangaroo slaughter under the Plan is humane, it is does not even meet minimum community expectations in relation to the maintenance and enforcement of animal welfare standards;
• Despite the Draft Plan’s claims to be responsive to change in the face of the clear threats to kangaroo populations posed by climate change, it fails to address, let alone prepare to deal with these risks in any way. 

In this submission ASK examines the Draft Plan and finds matters of significant concern about the assertions made and its regulatory context including:
• DEW’s attempt to suppress discussion of the assumptions and assertions that underpin the basis for the commercial slaughter of kangaroos in South Australia;
• Numerous and significant breaches of DEW’s obligation of transparency in the presentation of the arguments and evidence they rely on in support of the commercial slaughter of kangaroos in South Australia; 
• The fundamental conflict of interest between DEW’s role as the agency responsible for the protection of the state’s wildlife and as the promoter, financial supporter and regulator of the commercial slaughter of kangaroos in South Australia;
• The existence and  role of “industry capture” where the entrenched vested interests of the  rural sector have a disproportionately close and influential relationship with DEW as to the setting of policy and decision-making in relation to kangaroo management;
• The extent to which industry capture has led to the interests of rural landholders and commercial interests being given primacy over the interests of the broader community;
•  The extent to which both the conflict of interest and the influence of vested interests results in a stark and obvious lack of balance in the presentation of the justifications for, arguments and evidence that underpin the Draft Plan’s claims about the economic, environmental and social benefits of the commercial slaughter of kangaroos in South Australia;
•  The ongoing reliance by the South Australian government and DEW on discredited, unsupported or incorrect assertions and out of date research to justify its policy positions, management practices and decision-making under the Draft Plan;
• The lack of objectivity and independence in the scientific evidence relied on to justify the large-scale commercial slaughter of kangaroos in South Australia;
• The failure to address the very significant issues relating to animal welfare raised by the slaughter of kangaroos and their young;
•  The failure to address the very significant issues relating to the absence of any proper or effective system of monitoring compliance or enforcement under the Draft Plan including the absence of any system of oversight at the point of kill;
•  The failure to adopt any adaptive or risk management measures that confront the potential and very real threats climate change might have on kangaroo populations and their habitats.
• The failure of the Plan to apply the principles of ecologically sustainable development, particularly the precautionary principle in its policy development, decision-making or adaptive and risk management strategies.