Shane Knuth ‘won’t stop pushing’ crocodile management legislation

A Queensland MP has made comparisons to hunting experiences in Africa worth $30,000 while reintroducing his crocodile management bill, for a fifth time. What he’s proposing.

Hill MP Shane Knuth has reintroduced his crocodile management legislation. Picture: Crocodile_Beers

A Far North MP says he won’t stop presenting bills on crocodile management as he reintroduced his legislation for a fifth time, following a recent death and reports of the apex predators entering residential properties during the floods.

Hill MP Shane Knuth on Wednesday tabled his Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2025, his fifth attempt at establishing legislation he argues would protect humans and create economic opportunities from hunting, while simultaneously preventing the apex predators from going excinct.

The Bill, which aimed to create a Queensland Crocodile Authority in Cairns, was introduced to previous parliaments as the Safer Waterways Bill, but lapsed with the change of government.

But Mr Knuth said he “won’t stop pushing the issue until the state government finally recognised the urgency of the problem”.

Katter's Australian Party members Nick Dametto, Shane Knuth and Robbie Katter with Mr Knuth's Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2025.

“It’s an insult to North Queenslanders when we’re told to be croc-wise,” he said.

“We live with crocodiles every day, and we know how to stay safe, but simply putting up signs and closing beaches is not enough.

“I’ve received reports from locals about crocodiles floating through the recent floodwaters and entering residential properties.”

Mr Knuth said that while southeast Queensland boasted theme parks and entertainment hubs, Far North Queensland has its pristine outdoor spaces, “now increasingly unsafe due to government inaction on the crocodile crisis”.

A crocodile in floodwaters in Ingham in December 2023.

Mr Knuth’s bill would target all crocodiles in populated waterways to be “relocated to farms and sanctuaries, or euthanized if necessary.”

He said the Cairns-based QCA would be solely responsible for all aspects of crocodile management in Queensland including a review of current management zones, as well as developing “flexible” policies through consultation with different Indigenous communities.

He said examples of that included increasing egg harvesting limits or managing approvals for traditional owners to hunt on private land.

Mr Knuth pointed to Nile crocodile hunting experiences in Africa, stating premiums of “a few thousand Australian dollars to more than $30,000” were being paid by licensed hunters in a “critically monitored and legislated” environment, when speaking of the economic benefits he foresaw for Indigenous landholders.

Nile crocodile on a mangrove mud bank in the estuary of the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park game reserve in the Kwazulu-Natal province : � PicDavid/May South /African Tourism.

“Under this bill, that would fall to the Queensland Crocodile Authority,” he said.

“The heavily regulated hunting industry in other countries helps keep the population of particular animals under control and also provides economic benefits to local economies, including additional funds to undertake on-ground wildlife conservation of endangered flora and fauna.

“It is pure arrogance for bureaucrats in Brisbane to deny Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people the opportunity to manage crocodiles on their land based on their beliefs and the opportunity to generate a return for them and their community.”

Originally published as Shane Knuth ‘won’t stop pushing’ crocodile management legislation