Qld crocodile legislation hearing told of Indigenous culling pilot program

An Indigenous leader has offered his homeland as a “pilot project” for the government to trial crocodile culling while telling a committee to “get on board” or he’ll do it without their consent.

A North Queensland Indigenous leader has offered his homeland as a “pilot project” for the state government to trial crocodile culling while telling a committee to “get on board” or he’ll do it without their permission.

Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation director Murrandoo Yanner’s storytelling ability was on display as much as his crocodile knowledge as he told a parliamentary committee of how the animals were “fisted” to determine their sex, and how removing larger animals from waterways reminded him of “mafia movies”.

Mr Yanner was speaking in support at the committee hearing into Hill MP Shane Knuth’s Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill – which proposes culling among a number of amendments to the state’s management of the apex predator.

Mr Yanner told the committee Aboriginal rangers were estimating about 5000 crocodiles in waterways in his region, but was inviting the state to join forces and apply scientific rigour to determine appropriate cull levels.

Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation director Murrandoo Yanner is inviting the state government to his homeland to participate in a croc culling pilot program. Picture: Leighton Smith

“I think the state needs to get on board so it can be managed better, but otherwise we’ll be doing stuff anyway.

“We’re not in the camp where we want to totally cull them, but they’re in great numbers so we could manage them well.

“It’s a big one for the state. I’d like to offer my country, the lower Gulf of Carpentaria around Burketown to the (Northern) Territory border as a pilot project, and if it’s going to take too long for the state to sort it, let’s do it under the existing Native Title federal laws.”

In 1999 Mr Yanner famously won the “crocodile case” where the High Court ruled in his favour after he had been initially charged by the state government for killing two crocodiles.

In October 1999, Murrandoo Yanner celebrated the High Court's decision to acknowledge indigenous people's hunting and fishing rights by checking the spearhead he used to spear a crocodile with his sons. Picture: Anna Rogers

The High Court’s findings gave Indigenous people the right to hunt and fish under native title rights.

“Let’s get CSIRO in. Our rangers have been doing work around this already. We’ll look at a river and determine what’s a sustainable male and female population and from there you allocate your cull.

“There’s no need to even kill them. I came up with a concept called green cull. Green cull is when you have a big problem croc, you capture it alive with a harpoon and then you have to find out their sex – to do that you have to sex them – and after that no crocodile is going to want to come near a human again for a few years. It’s like those aliens that kidnap people and do weird things to them.”

Murrandoo Yanner estimated there to be about 5000 crocodiles in the waterways between Normanton and the Northern Territory border. Picture: Anna Rogers

Mr Yanner said despite having the right to hunt and kill crocodiles, numbers were increasing which he attributed to less Indigenous people participating in the activities, as well as a decline in egg harvesting.

He estimated there to be about “between 3000 and 5000” crocodiles between Normanton and the Northern Territory border, while suggesting a “conservative” population count for all of Queensland would be about 100,000, in response to a question around the inconsistencies of numbers reported.

Originally published as Qld crocodile legislation hearing told of Indigenous culling pilot program