Wallaby activists ‘wrong on cull’

THE Queensland government has insisted farmers don’t have to prove they’ve exhausted every nonlethal option to remove wallabies before shooting them.

THE  Queensland government has hit back at animal welfare ­activists, insisting farmers don’t have to prove that they have exhausted every non-lethal option­ to remove wallabies before they’re ­allowed to shoot them.

Supreme Court judge Martin Daubney reserved his decision yesterday in the case brought by the Australian Kangaroo Society to quash five controversial cull permits for more than 1500 wallabies at Mission Beach, 140km south of Cairns.

The ruling has the potential to set a precedent for how many hurdles farmers must clear before being allowed to kill non-endangered native animals.

Lawyers for the kangaroo ­activists have argued that a Queensland Environment Department bureaucrat failed to consider whether the Mission Beach locals had tried installing expensive wallaby-proof fences before requesting kill orders.

However, barrister Erin Longbottom, for the department, told Justice Daubney yesterday state law did not require landholders to prove they had exhausted every option. Ms Longbottom said residents merely had to show the animals were wreaking economic havoc on their properties and that they had made a reasonable attempt to get rid of them.

The permits were awarded to cattle graziers, banana farmers, a property developer and a resident in Mission Beach last year. One has expired and the remaining four will run out in February.