Darren Chester
Gippsland · National Party · Australia
“After four years of the Albanese government, Australians are worse off and our nation is heading in the wrong direction, with the standard of living in freefall. The heart of the problem, why Australians are worse off, is very simple: we're being led by a prime minister who simply can't tell the truth.”
“This is a prime minister who said, 'I won't BS people,' but in question time we cannot get a straight answer out of this prime minister to any question. The Prime Minister told Australians, 'My word is my bond.' Remember that?”
“We need someone like Gemma Rendell to stand up and fight for our fair share as a genuine community champion. I believe in putting locals first. For me, putting locals first means supporting our small businesses, our family owned businesses, right across the electorate of Gippsland.”
“We need those local businesses to survive. Right now, it's pretty tough in the local economy. We need you to be out there supporting local businesses at every opportunity. Winter is not a time to hibernate. Winter is a time to get out and explore Gippsland.”
“Gemma Rendell is an outstanding East Gippslander. Gemma is aiming to create history at the state election in November by becoming the first female member for the seat of Gippsland East. She is a busy young lady already. She's a farmer, a teacher, a young mum, and she's been active in our community for many years.”
“Traditionally, we've had a peak holiday season of eight to 10 weeks over the summer period where all of the accommodation is full and all of the restaurants are busy, but then it's been quiet in winter. Now we're trying to make sure we build on our winter season.”
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“As the freight volume grows, it's becoming an increasing a point of delay and is also having impacts on the amenity of Traralgon and the safety of local residents. Finally, there are potential disaster benefits associated with a well-designed bypass. A study undertaken by the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority in 2016 recommended the construction of a retarding basin upstream, where the proposed bypass is planned, would also form part of a crucial element in mitigating floods which can emanate from the Traralgon Creek. The time for action is now.”
“Nothing is getting any cheaper in Victoria while waiting for this Labor government to build anything. Obviously any proposal to build the bypass at some stage in the future will require a significant financial contribution by the Commonwealth government. We need more information. There are now 15 intersections involving roundabouts and traffic lights to get through Traralgon, and it takes somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes and much longer during peak times. Building the bypass would also create much needed jobs during the construction phase which is envisaged. Now the full highway duplication to Sale has been completed primarily through the 80 per cent funding provided by the former coalition government, the next road transport infrastructure project in our region is to bypass Traralgon for the reasons I've described.”
“According to the Transport Victoria website, it has undertaken studies, including extensive transport modelling to understand the likely impact of a bypass on local roads now and into the future. They also claim to have engaged with key stakeholders, including local government, businesses, the freight industry, landowners and the community to understand the current issues with the Traralgon road network and the likely benefits and impacts of building a bypass. They also claim to have reached 88,000 people through various engagement measures, but they've never released a report. Instead, we hear excuses and platitudes about the final route requiring more information due to the existence of the Loy Yang mine. I've spoken to the mine operators, and that is complete and utter bureaucratic bulldust.”
“As the petition notes, in 2009, the Latrobe Planning Scheme formalised a route for a proposed Traralgon bypass on the highway. Regional Roads Victoria undertook a planning study for the bypass on behalf of Victorian government between 2017 and 2018. The project is supported by local councils right across my electorate. Providing a Traralgon bypass would reduce congestion, improve safety and productivity, increase liveability for locals and boost the visitor economy in Gippsland. I've written to the state government, yet again, to encourage the Labor Party to act. They need to act first, before the Commonwealth will take any action on this project.”
“Despite being talked about for more than 40 years, plans to build a bypass on the Princes Highway around Traralgon have stalled due to a lack of action by the Labor Party at both the state and federal levels. Today I'll be submitting a petition to the federal parliament, which has been signed by more than 1,300 Gippslanders who want less talk and more action on this project. At the 2025 federal election, the coalition promised to provide $5 million to work with the Victorian government to finalise the design, approvals and costings of the proposed Traralgon bypass. Without a final design, we can't move to costings and construction work. The Labor Party isn't interested, despite the social, economic and environmental benefits the bypass would bring.”
“Not one of those opposite had the guts to tell the Australian people before the last election about their plans to change negative gearing, capital gains tax and trusts. They knew if they told the truth the Australian people wouldn't vote for them, so they misled. They obfuscated. They were loose with the truth. They fudged the facts and they told 'little white Albos' to avoid being honest with the Australian people. They all told these 'little white Albos' to avoid telling the truth. It's time for the Prime Minister to be honest. If you want to hit Australians with higher taxes, have the guts to take those changes to an election and let the people decide. (Time expired)”
“This week the Prime Minister told parliament, 'It's time to be honest,' and every day this week we've asked him questions about his broken promises and higher taxes. We soon realised he can't answer any questions, because he doesn't even understand the budget. But we shouldn't be surprised, because it's not his budget. This is Bill Shorten's budget. This is the budget that Bill Shorten wanted to deliver in the lead-up to the 2019 election, and we all remember what happened then. Our friend the member for McMahon, like a beacon of truth in a sea of lies, said, 'If you don't like our policies, don't vote for us.' That was the only good advice he's ever given us. There is a fundamental deceit behind this government, which was elected on deception and trickery.”
“The negative gearing treatment in the budget and the way it's been grandfathered to protect people like me and people like the Prime Minister but then pull up the ladder of opportunity for young people in this country is quite extraordinary—again, when you acknowledge that no-one took it to the election in the first place. The Prime Minister, like me, has worked for a long time, purchased a family home and then been in a position to invest in an investment property, have it negatively geared and have the benefit of that tax treatment. But what happens now is that people who hadn't made those investments prior to budget night no longer have that opportunity in the same manner which the Prime Minister and I have enjoyed throughout our working careers.”
“We're facing a decade of deficits worth $150 billion, but the greatest deficit isn't $150 billion; it's the deficit of trust that now exists between this Prime Minister and the Australian people. A hundred and fifty billion dollars is a lot of money, but the deficit of trust that exists now between this Prime Minister and the voters of this country has been widened in a manner which is unprecedented in my time in this parliament, and that's 18 years. To see a prime minister so deliberately mislead the Australian voters and then pretend nothing happened is quite extraordinary. The deceit which goes to the very heart of this budget is these mealy-mouthed claims from those opposite that it's about intergenerational equity, but it's actually about intergenerational fraud, and they know it.”
“The Labor Party knew that, if they'd sought a mandate, what happened in 2019 would happen again, because, if people didn't like their policies, they wouldn't vote for them. They always planned to do this. That is the disgrace that is at the very fundamental core of the budget that was delivered by the Treasurer only a couple of weeks ago. Instead of a plan for the future of regional Australia, in the budget we saw more broken promises, higher taxes, more debt, lower living standards and fewer homes for Australians. The budget papers themselves say that, under the changes being delivered by this government, 35,000 fewer homes will be built. That's in their own budget papers.”
“He also said, 'I will lead a government that keeps its promises.' So why would any Australian believe him in the next election when he rules out other tax changes? They know he'll just conveniently change his mind after election and do whatever he wanted in the first place. This is Bill Shorten's 2019 election campaign being delivered by the current Prime Minister, but at least Bill Shorten had the guts, the intestinal fortitude, to take it to the voters. We even had the member for McMahon saying, if you don't like our policies, don't vote for them. Australians don't need to be told twice; they didn't vote for them. That is why this is such a fundamental deceit of the Australian people—because they didn't actually seek a mandate for this.”
“I can tell you: when you get out on the streets and you listen to people, they know they have been misled, deceived, by a prime minister who cannot be trusted with anything he says, going forward, because he told us 50 times he wasn't going to change capital gains tax or negative gearing, and he's done exactly the opposite without having the fundamental decency to take it to the Australian people. In his own words—'We have a mandate for what we took the Australian people. That is our mandate'—he has no mandate for what he's done in the budget. The Prime Minister also told Australians—this is probably the funniest thing I've heard out of him in recent times: 'My word is my bond. I believe that, when you go to an election and you make commitments, you should stick to them.' It's good advice for any leader.”
“But these are my new policies, and I'm going to take them to the next election and give you a chance to vote on them.' That's kind of how a democracy is meant to work: you have a policy position; you take it to the voters; the voters decide; and you get a winner. What you don't do—unless you're a little bit gutless—is to mislead voters and tell them 50 times you're not going to do something, and then, at the first available opportunity, break your word and give no-one a chance to vote on it. This is going to hang around those opposite like a dead albatross, all the way to the next election. The member for Chifley shakes his head. And they've got every right to be confident, because they've got 94 members of the House of Representatives. They think they're on a winner.”
“That is our mandate.' They're his own words: 'We have a mandate for what we took to the Australian people. That is our mandate.' The Prime Minister has no mandate for the changes announced in the federal budget which hit small-business owners and which hit our farming communities. And he knows it. The Prime Minister knows that he's broken his word. He likes to say, 'Now I've changed my position,' or some other little weasel words, to try and get around it. He's fundamentally broken a promise to the Australian people, and they won't forget it. Why can't this Prime Minister just be honest? Just be honest with the Australian people and say: 'I did break my promise.”
“They have seen, over the last four years, 15 interest rate rises. The average Australian mortgage holder now is paying $25,000 per year more in interest than they were before the Albanese government came to power. And, up against those headwinds, families would have turned on the TV on budget night and found out that they had been misled repeatedly before the 2020 election. The voters won't forget, because the Prime Minister himself, in a very snippy little interview where his glass jaw broke in front of the assembled press gallery, said he'd 'told you 50 times'—50 times—that he was ruling out changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing. After the federal election, in May last year, the Prime Minister continued, when he said: 'We have a mandate for what we took to the Australian people.”
“I must say to anyone listening at home: you must feel like you're in a parallel universe when you hear contributions from the government saying that everything's rosy, everything's great, and Australians have never had it better. In the real world, when you get out there and you talk to Australians, they're angry, they're frustrated and they've been left behind by a government which has made them worse off in just four years. The message I get, everywhere I go, is that Australians want their country back. This week's Mood of the Nation poll found that 66 per cent of Australians believe the country is heading in the wrong direction—that 66 per cent of Australians believe our nation is not on the right track. And who could blame them? They have experienced a declining standard of living.”
“In the interests of river health across the nation, we must move beyond more research to a coordinated rollout of the virus and a carp control plan which actually delivers for regional Australia.”
“They represented 41 different community, farming, fishing, processing, research and natural resource management organisations, and they had a unanimous view in relation to the national carp plan: … progress toward implementation has been slow and uncertain, with no clear national timeline or pathway forward. They are demanding action, not more talkfests. They've formed the Carp Action Alliance and will advocate for more carp control measures. I urge the minister to engage with them and engage with the coalition and take action immediately. I agree with the key stakeholders, like the Victorian Fisheries Authority, that we need to set clear timelines to complete the deliberations around the carp herpes virus, as a priority, and set clear timelines for releasing the virus by 2028 at the latest.”
“There is no decision that would not have some element of risk. As FRDC Managing Director Patrick Hone wrote in the foreword to the national plan: Uncertainties regarding the release of the virus remain, but this is to be expected given the complexity of the work undertaken. … a decision on whether or not to release the virus will always involve some uncertainty. One thing is certain: what we're doing now just isn't working. European carp continue to devastate our waterways, and the current control methods will not deliver the results demanded by Australians. Now, the community agrees with me. Just last month, 80 delegates from across five states and territories attended the Murray-Darling Carp Action Summit in Nagambie, in the seat of Nicholls, and my good friend Sam Birrell, here today, also attended.”
“The National Carp Control Plan from 2022 clearly states, as to the carp herpes virus: The carp virus will not infect humans or any other mammal, and there is considerable evidence the carp virus will not infect other non-target species … Modelling indicates that, if it's successfully deployed, it will result in a 50 to 60 per cent reduction in carp biomass. The plan also found that broadscale and long-term water quality impacts resulting from carp biocontrol operations are unlikely, and that carcass-management strategies can be delivered. We have the independent CSIRO also backing the virus. CSIRO researchers have found that the herpes virus does kill Australian pest carp, and it kills them quickly. Current research has also shown that the virus does not develop in native Australian species of fish. So what are we actually waiting for?”
“Their presence in such huge numbers is undermining the recreational fishing industry and impacting the visitor economy in regional Australia. And all we do in this place is talk about it. The costs run into hundreds of millions of dollars per year, and the missed opportunity is just enormous. Just imagine the benefits if we cleaned up our streams by reducing the carp population and allowed native fish to actually flourish in our waterways. Now, the time for talking about carp is over. Carp can amount to about 90 per cent of the fish biomass in some of our waters. There have been literally thousands of pages of scientific research and investigation into how we manage carp, and there are detailed reports on different approaches that are available to us as a nation.”
“Although they were first introduced into Australia in the mid-19th century, carp really only emerged as an environmental menace in the 1960s, when a genetic strain of carp called the Boolarra strain escaped from a fish farm in my electorate of Gippsland. The Boolarra strain's escape led to a huge expansion in the range and the population of carp, and, despite some netting, trapping and community based carp-catching programs, there's been no successful long-term carp control over large areas in our nation. Carp are destroying our waterways and impacting on biodiversity right across the country. They're outcompeting native fish. Their constant undermining of riverbanks is seeing trees which are hundreds of years old falling into our waterways. The turbidity created by their feeding habits is actually impacting water quality.”
“Former Australian of the Year Neale Daniher is famous for saying 'when all is said and done, more is said than done'. He could easily have been talking about our failure to take action on the ground to counter one of the nation's most damaging invasive species, and that's the European carp. They are destroying our waterways and they're killing native fish, but all the bureaucrats want to do is write more reports. This is paralysis by analysis, and the bureaucrats keep finding reasons to delay the release of a biocontrol. It's time for a timid minister to show some courage and take up my offer to work in a bipartisan way and have a serious crack at controlling the carp population in this country. It's time for less talk and a hell of a lot more action to control this species, which is devastating Australian waterways.”
“I move: That this House: (1) acknowledges that the: (a) Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has reported that: (i) common or European carp (Cyprinus carpio) is an invasive freshwater species that has been established across Australia's inland waters for several decades; (ii) their large mouths and feeding style contribute to their environmental damage; (iii) carp populations can also increase quickly with their numbers fluctuating in response to changing breeding conditions associated with seasonal rainfall; (iv) in some river systems, carp can make up as much as 90 per cent of total biomass, outcompeting native fish; (v) their high abundance increases water turbidity, damages aquatic plants, and degrades freshwater ecosystems; and (vi) carp are now in every state and territory in Australia except the Northern Territory; (b) National Carp Control Plan report suggests the carp herpes virus could reduce Australian carp populations by up to 60 per cent; and (c) Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation has found the carp herpes virus is effective in killing carp and does not transfer to native species; (2) notes that: (a) the Victorian Fisheries Authority is advocating strongly for the release of the carp herpes virus at trial sites to help reduce the damage caused by this invasive fish; (b) the Opposition has written to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to offer bipartisan support for the Government to set clear timelines for the release of the virus; and (c) a meeting of key stakeholders in Nagambie, on 30 April 2026, unanimously supported the release of the virus as part of a coordinated plan to control carp numbers and formed the Murray-Darling Carp Action Alliance to unite efforts, resources, and advocacy against the invasive species; and (3) urges the Government to work in partnership with the Opposition, key stakeholder groups and local communities to design and implement the release of the carp herpes virus by 2028 at the latest.”
“At least speak to the Aboriginal corporation on the ground, and understand that there are now hundreds of people who were never informed of their capacity to seek a payment under this scheme. What frustrates me the most is this media release from the minister on 6 September 2024, where she wrote: It is my hope that … the settlement will bring closure to many First Nations people impacted by these Commonwealth laws. The minister was happy to bask in the glory with a media release welcoming the court ruling but was not prepared to do the hard work and address this injustice, which has been presented to her multiple times.”
“It is simply saying, 'Not my problem.' It's a fancy way of saying, 'Not my problem.' The minister herself couldn't be bothered to respond to multiple letters on behalf of hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were never told that they may be eligible to receive a payment under this scheme. The government has simply given up on this injustice. It took the minister five months to respond to my multiple letters—and even then, the minister herself couldn't be bothered writing a letter; we got an email from the chief of staff. I urge the minister: please listen to the people on the ground and help them find a way to fix this injustice. If you can't fix it, at least try.”
“Finally, on 29 April, I received a response from the Minister of Indigenous Australians, except it wasn't from the minister herself. It was an email from her chief of staff. The email says: The Class Action and the Settlement Distribution Scheme are administered independently of the Government. The Federal Court of Australia appointed independent Administrators to administer the Settlement. Given the independence of the Settlement, the Commonwealth is unable to influence the way the Administrators administer the settlement, including to extend the registration date. The settlement of the Class Action was reached by agreement of several parties and this agreement cannot be altered without the approval of the Federal Court.”
“I'm sure those who conducted this fiasco will say they did a terrific job of notifying applicants but let me reassure you they didn't. Again, there was no response from the minister to that letter. So I wrote again on 1 April of this year and provided more details on this flawed process and failure to notify people who may have been eligible to receive funding under the stolen wages claim. My letter of 1 April received no response again. Despite several attempts to then seek a meeting with the minister or her adviser, my request was bounced around between the Minister for Indigenous Australians and the Attorney-General, with no-one seeming to know who was responsible for looking into this serious situation. On 28 April, I wrote again to the minister.”
“… … … He is more importantly a fine man and friend. He attended my office to complain about the lack of any notification regarding the stolen wages. … … … It is only now that a few people are getting money that the cat is out of the bag. He states many Yolngu know nothing of the scheme. As an aside the two he wished to claim for personally are his father who rescued a USA pilot shot down on a remote Island. His father Jacky rescued the pilot and canoed him to civilisation. He then worked for the airforce at Gove airport for no pay and latter in jobs detrimental to indigenous workers. His mother was a nurse delivering babies in remote areas. She received an AOM for her services but again compromised pay. And he goes on to say, Old Geoff this is not closing the gap but opening a gap of more sorrow.”
“I accept this is a long way from Gippsland, but one of my constituents volunteers as a lawyer who works in the East Arnhem area, and he became aware of hundreds of community members who had not been informed of the opportunity provided by the court ruling. On 12 December 2025, I wrote to the minister and pointed out that many community members living remotely may not have had the opportunity to register at all and injustice was being done. I received no response. On 19 February of this year, I again wrote to the minister and explained that there was a steady flow of inquiries about stolen wages to the local Aboriginal corporation. Again, these people had not been informed. My constituent told me of one Yolngu elder who had just left his office. He wrote: He is a local elder and revered traditional owner.”
“I rise to highlight an injustice which is occurring among Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory, which the minister is refusing to address. The Northern Territory stolen wages class action was brought against the Commonwealth government on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who worked in the Northern Territory between 1933 and 1971 and were paid little or no wages. The Commonwealth agreed to pay up to $202 million, including costs, to settle the class action, with up to $18,000 for each eligible claimant who registered by August 2025. The problem is that many of the people who were possibly eligible were not informed of the opportunity to claim.”
“I find it outrageous that, in matters of life-and-death situations, I'm getting letters signed by a chief of staff, and I have no idea if my pleas on behalf of my constituents are even being seen or heard by the responsible minister. I appeal to the minister. This is not party politics. We want to try and help him. We want it to work. We want aged people in our community to have the of dignity staying in their own homes for longer, because we know they do better in their own homes if they get a little bit of help. But right now they are not getting that help. They're being assessed and then they're being told to wait eight to 12 months for support. Too many people are dying waiting for that help. Minister, read the letters and come and talk to us about how we can get a better deal for older Australians.”
“When I say 'respond to my letter', I don't know if the minister read the letter, because this minister, the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing, doesn't actually sign his letters. His chief of staff signs his letters. I've got no idea if the minister is actually reading my letters on behalf of people like Frank and Valma. Frank and Valma aren't the only ones. We have repeatedly written to the minister in relation to Support at Home packages, and I don't know if he reads the letters. If he doesn't read the letters, how does he know what's happening in our communities? I am sick of getting responses from a chief of staff. I've been a cabinet minister, and I signed every bloody letter that went out of my office.”
“Frank and Valma were assessed as being eligible for Support at Home packages. Remember, I said they were 99 years old. They were told they would have to wait between eight and 12 months to receive that support to stay in their own homes—eight to 12 months and they were 99 years old. We warned the government and warned the minister that there was a very real risk they might die waiting for help. That's what's happened. Frank has died. Before I got a response from the minister on 21 April, Frank died on 14 April. These are the real consequences. There have been 4,800 people who have died on the waiting list for Support at Home packages in the last 12 months. I never met Frank—I spoke to his son—but I do know he deserved better than this. It took the minister 74 days to respond to my letter.”
“It is with an extraordinarily heavy heart that I make my contribution here today because in this building there's quite often a lot of political point scoring and partisan political grandstanding. But, when it comes to the issue of the Support at Home program, the minister and the government need to understand there is a crisis in our communities right now. I'm not here today to try and score a political point. I'm here today to say to the minister: 'Please listen to us. Listen to the cries for help from Australian families and older Australians who are literally dying in their own homes waiting for support to arrive.' Just over, I think, six weeks ago, in the last sitting period, I raised my concerns about a 99-year-old couple by the names of Frank and Valma living in Paynesville.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Before the last election, the Prime Minister promised Australians he would not impose any new taxes on farmers and small businesses. The Prime Minister has said: I'm a prime minister who, when I make a commitment and when I say I will do something, I do it. I think the Australian people understand that. Prime Minister, why should Australians ever trust another commitment this Labor government makes?”
“But did they get the help—as the minister likes to pretend in this place? No. Frank and Valma have been told their package will be delivered in 11 to 12 months time. They are 99 years old. They will both be 100 before they receive any help whatsoever, and they've just been parked on a Labor waitlist, which already has 100,000 people in it. We know more than 4,000 Australians have died on that waitlist in the past 12 months, and the minister pretends everything is okay. When we asked questions in Senate estimates about whether there was any capacity for support to be fast-tracked for Frank and Valma given their considerable age, we were told that wasn't possible unless they were homeless, Indigenous or had cognitive issues. I ask the minister— (Time expired)”
“The Minister for Aged Care and Seniors is misleading older Australians. He pretends the home aged-care system is working. Yesterday, the minister claimed that older Australians were assessed in less than a month. But what he didn't tell you was how long it actually takes for people to get help in their homes. The lived experience of older people and their families in my electorate of Gippsland is appalling. I wrote to the government 53 days ago after a family member contacted me about their parents, Frank and Valma. Frank and Valma are both 99 years old and still live in their own home. They want to stay in their own home, and we know older Australians do better if they can stay in familiar surroundings. After some recent falls, Frank and Valma were assessed as eligible for an assistance package under the Support at Home program.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Victorian Farmers Federation president, Brett Hosking, has just released a statement in relation to farmers access to fuel. He said: … today's announcements contain no clarity on how fuel will be prioritised if the crisis deepens. Why is the Prime Minister always the last to lead in a national crisis?”
“From where I sit on the front bench here, I get a very good view of the government backbench. What I've noticed in the last couple of weeks is, every time the energy minister gets to his feet, out come the phones. They look very closely at their phones—look at my Facebook; look at my Instagram. Whatever you do, don't engage with the energy minister because he is making a fool of you. He is making a fool of you because he can't do his day job. The national fuel crisis, which the minister denied existed, is now very apparent. If the aged-care minister wants to start having a chat, he can have a chat straight after me and he can explain to me—”
“The shadow energy minister and I and my colleagues stood to ask questions about Australians who were experiencing a lack of fuel supply in their communities which was impacting their families, impacting their jobs, impacting their small businesses and impacting their farms, and the minister said that we were scaremongering. These were legitimate supply-chain issues being raised by members on this side of the chamber. Australians were feeling insecure—and they are still feeling insecure, because they don't believe this energy minister is doing his day job. Then, after accusing the coalition of scaremongering, the minister came into the parliament, just two days later, and announced a national fuel crisis. So on the Tuesday we were scaremongering, but by Thursday there was a national fuel crisis!”
“I say at the outset: Australians are hurting. And, after four years of this Albanese government, Australians are worse off, and they know our country is heading in the wrong direction. The Iran war may have started four weeks ago, but Labor's war on fossil fuels started four years ago. What we have seen in this crisis is a government which has been slow to act. Just three weeks ago, we had the Minister for Climate Change and Energy standing opposite us here and telling Australians, and telling the opposition, that we, the opposition, were scaremongering when we were raising concerns about the lack of fuel supply to key industries around the nation.”
“I support them in their work. We need to see more action. We need to see more boots on the ground doing practical environmental work and fewer suits in our cities making excuses when it comes to these natural resource management issues. I agree entirely with Victorian Fisheries Authority's request of the government, both state and federal. Let's get serious about carp.”
“The impacts of and the lack of action on carp is the key issue of concern raised by recreational fishers in my state of Victoria and, I'd imagine, right across the nation. The important thing to note here is that there is a way forward, there is a plan, and there's been an enormous amount of work done on this invasive species. Australia's been researching carp biocontrol for 49 years now. For the last 20 years, the carp herpes virus has been subject to an enormous amount of consideration, culminating in the National Carp Control Plan of 2022. The department has commissioned further research on the carp virus with no clear timelines on if and when a decision will be made about the use of the virus. The VFA—the Victorian Fisheries Authority—is recommending trials to get the virus out in the waterways to judge the impact.”
“As I said, carp are degrading river health. They're ruining water quality. They're eroding banks. They're removing vegetation. They're outcompeting and preying on juvenile native fish. They're increasing algae blooms and reducing biodiversity. Carp impact 22 species, many of which are rare and endangered. I've seen in my own electorate where the carp, burrowing into the bank, undermines the bank and you end up with red gum trees, which are hundreds of years old, falling into rivers in our community. The 2025 Murray-Darling Basin audit shows that carp are the key ecological pressure limiting native fish recovery. If we can reduce the biomass of the carp to a level where the native species can predate on the juvenile carp, we can turn the balance in this debate and get some great environmental outcomes across our nation.”
“The CSIRO has made it clear in relation to the potential release of the herpes virus to have an impact on the carp population. CSIRO researchers found that the virus 'does kill Australian pest carps, and it kills them quickly'. Current research has also shown that the virus does not develop in native Australian species of fish. That's important because the CSIRO is independent, and it has disproved what is perhaps one of the major concerns in relation to whether the virus would then transfer to other native Australian fish. CSIRO research shows very clearly that it kills them quickly, and the current research has also shown the virus does not develop in native Australian species of fish. Carp represent, as I said, about 90 per cent of the total fish biomass in the Murray-Darling Basin. That's around 350 million carp.”
“There've been thousands of pages of scientific research and investigation into how we manage carp and detailed reports on different approaches that are available to us, but the time for talk is over. It's time for more action in relation to European carp. In Gippsland, carp are actually outcompeting native species in our rivers and our Ramsar listed Gippsland Lakes. They're destroying the water quality and the biodiversity of our wetland. Our wetlands are overrun with carp, and our community wants to see more action. People are simply frustrated by the delays. There is now a paralysis by analysis. The cost of inaction is enormous, and there has to be an acceptable level of risk when it comes to taking action. I think the acceptable level of risk has been reached in terms of the research and the information we already have available to us.”
“The Victorian Fisheries Authority has a very simple message for state governments across Australia and the federal government: it is time to get serious about carp. It is time for less talk and more action to control this insidious invasive species. European carp are destroying our waterways. They are killing native species. They are causing enormous social, economic and environmental losses, and the impact on recreational fishing is extremely difficult to evaluate but certainly enormous in terms of lost opportunities for our regional communities. The Victorian Fisheries Authority has advised me that there's enough carp in Australia today to fill the MCG three and a half times over. Carp, at times, can amount to 90 per cent of the fish biomass in some of our waters.”
“This is the lived reality of farmers in my electorate right now, when it comes to controlling the wild dog problem. I acknowledge this is primarily a matter for the state government, but the federal government does have a role to play here in the way we provide funding for natural resource management and the control of invasive and feral species. Wild dogs are an enormous social and economic cost to our community, and both levels of government need to be working together to use every available lever to control the problem before it gets completely out of hand once again.”
“In terms of mental health and stress, just imagine working all day to care for your stock, going home at night and grabbing a bite to eat and then grabbing your rifle and your thermal scope and heading out again to try and control wild dogs. That is the lived reality for farmers in my electorate. The last time the dogs were this bad was around 2010 when, from a flock of, say, 1,000 sheep, you could lose 20 to 30 ewes in one night. That was at a time when sheep were valuable—but nothing like the prices they're getting today. In today's market, a lamb can be worth up to $300, and ewes can be around $250 to $350 per head. So, in a bad night, if it gets back to the way it was in 2010, you could see a loss of $7,500—or even up to $15,000 if the ewes are pregnant—just in one night.”