Federal election 2013

This letter aims to gauge our politicians' attitude to threatened species funding. Please send it to your local candidates. When you receive a reply, let us know via email (orangebellied.parrot@gmail.com) or private message on Facebook, and we will publish the results just before the election.

Please also send it to the Minister for the Environment, Mark Butler: Mark.Butler.MP@aph.gov.au

and to the Shadow Minister for the Environment, 
Greg Hunt: Greg.Hunt.MP@aph.gov.au

For local candidates, first find your electorate: http://apps.aec.gov.au/esearch/

Find the contact details of your local candidates:

http://www.aec.gov.au/election/who-are-the-candidates.htm

Then copy and paste this letter into an email and send. Feel free to add your own words. Don't forget to delete these instructions!

Dear  ...............

As a constituent of .................... and a lover of Australia's native wildlife,  I wish to draw your attention to the issue of threatened species.  

The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee recently handed down its report, 'Effectiveness of threatened species and ecological communities' protection in Australia'. 

Addressing the Committee, Mr Peter Cosier (Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists) said:

...biodiversity conservation is not being taken seriously in this country. To have 1,790 [EPBC listed] species in Australia in 2013 ... suggests it has been a complete failure.

We are all diminished by biodiversity loss - and not just because it is our moral obligation to save all threatened species. Professor Stephen Garnett of Charles Darwin University has written:

..there is increasing evidence that biodiversity loss has an influence on ecosystem service provision on a par with drought, ozone loss, acidification and climate warming. Species conservation is an investment in natural capital that provides enormous returns.

In other words, without our rich heritage of living creatures and plants, our land will gradually become unliveable for us. In addition, we should consider the burgeoning value of nature tourism to our economy, which is immeasurably enhanced by the presence of rare and threatened species.

Unfortunately, it is evident that recovery plans for threatened species and ecological communities are not implemented or given sufficient funding to be properly implemented. A well-resourced funding stream for threatened species recovery is crucial to the future of Australia's birds, animals and plants. BirdLife Australia has suggested that all 20 of our critically endangered birds could be saved with the expenditure of as little as $380,000 each. Threatened species funding for all animals, plants and birds is currently $3 million per annum - less than one per cent of our weekly defence budget. This is a massive imbalance.

As a first-world country, we must improve on our dismal record of species extinctions. BirdLife Australia recommended to the Committee that threatened species investment  must not only be increased, but be guaranteed over sufficiently long periods to allow recovery. They suggested funding be provided for up to eight years at a time with independent review and potential extension after four years.

I am gravely worried about the future of animals like Leadbeater's Possum and the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby and, particularly, Australia's most endangered bird, the Orange-bellied Parrot, which has plummeted to fewer than 50. Even worse, ALL funding for recovery work on this parrot this summer has been discontinued. There is no longer any state or Commonwealth funding to undertake research or management in the parrot's Tasmanian breeding grounds.  I am ashamed to live in a country with so little regard for this priceless part of our natural world.

There is no doubt that funds for Australia's threatened species are finite and that, for the time being, many do not contribute to local economies. But we are undeniably entrusted with a responsibility not to let the Orange-bellied Parrot or any other species slip away.

I urge you to act so that your party adopts all 44 of the Committee's recommendations, in particular Recommendations  29 and 30:

·       that the Commonwealth government adjusts current funding under the Biodiversity Fund and Caring for our Country to provide targeted funding streams for threatened species and ecological communities. This dedicated funding should include funding for implementation of specific actions within recovery plans, conservation advices and threat abatement plans and advices;

·       In light of the evidence that feral animals and fire regimes are two of the biggest threats to threatened species and communities, the committee recommends that funding programs give high priority to on-ground projects addressing feral animals and fire regimes.

I will not vote for the representative of a party that supports the current, inadequate status quo. I would like you, if elected (or re-elected) to represent my views on threatened species, and help bring about a quantum increase in threatened species funding.

Please answer the following questions:

1. What is your attitude to threatened species?

2. Will you act to influence Parliament to adopt the Senate Environment and                Communications References Committee's recommendations on threatened species protection?

3. Will you publicly advocate for threatened species?

4. If (re)elected, will you work to strengthen and implement effective legislation and governance to ensure protection of threatened species?

5. Will you act to ensure adequate funding for all Australian threatened species, as suggested by the abovementioned Committee's recommendations? 

6. How will you remedy the current suspension in funds for Orange-bellied Parrot management, research and captive-release work?

Threatened species recovery is an important issue for me and will influence my vote. The very existence of too many creatures is at stake, and in the 21st century, this is both wholly preventable and most regrettable.

Thank you for your time in responding to these questions. An early response will help me consider your views when I decide how to vote.