We have submitted numerous and complex and well-reasoned and researched documents to environmental type inquiries in Australia, only for the immense effort (in the public good and unpaid) to be completely ignored. Not one change to the horrors occurring to Australian wildlife and their biomes has come from all this effort. Commonly, facts and stating the obvious are ignored, if they do cut through, they disappear from the final Inquiry reports. The classic case of this was the New South Wales Government inquiry Health and wellbeing of Kangaroos and other Macropods in New South Wales (2021). The first iteration of the inquiry report described the key issues and what was happening to Kangaroos and Wallabies in New South Wales. The final report was a watered down version with a dissenting statement from the chair describing her concerns. The Guardian reporting (22 April 2022):

“Just two of the 23 recommendations handed to the New South Wales Government after an inquiry into Kangaroo population levels and culling practices have been accepted in full. Inquiry chair and Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said the response was “dismissive of the serious issues raised” during the three-day inquiry called to understand the wellbeing of the state’s Kangaroo population, amid concerns about the scale and regulation of culling”.

Shortly after that and following the population estimates from the New South Wales Government published post inquiry (estimates which took absolutely no account of the inquiry findings) we conducted our own population survey in the Lower Darling and Broken Hill Shooting Zones where the latest population estimates had claimed there were 3 million Kangaroos. Transecting these zones over six days covering significant distances we found just ONE living Kangaroo. I think that tells the story.  

Not to be dissuaded and in the case of the public consultation in South Australia of the Draft Commercial Kangaroo Management Plan 2025–2029 we try a different approach, a poem. That different approach received an immediate response of thanks from the South Australian Deputy Premier’s office, for which we are grateful.

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Our South Australian submission: August 2024 - Draft Commercial Kangaroo Management Plan 2025-2029

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I think it would be fair to say that we are fed up with endlessly pointing out the issues regarding what is happening to Kangaroo populations in Australia, including in the large number of submissions to environmental inquiries across the continent. A lot of hard work for all those years, only to be ignored, the letters of rebuttal from public servants piled high.

So here a different try, a fairy story from an Alpine childhood. And it rhymes.

Just in case you are wondering, yes, the Alpine childhood and the walks in the mountains and forests in the 1950s were true, the gingerbread house and the old witch, that is a fairy story, quite similar in a way to state government Kangaroo population estimates.

Here are some recent comments from Peter Hylands to the Commonwealth Government’s Environment Minister, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP:

“It must seem odd to you that our humble resources and duty of care about Australia’s Natural Environment can produce a full year forecast for the likely outcome for the actual commercial take of Kangaroos in mainland Australia in 2023 that is slightly more than actual at 9,424 Kangaroos.

The state's quotas combined for 2023, they are spending cumulatively millions of dollars on surveys, defence of this activity, compliance, denial of justice to those impacted by the killing and cruelty on their doorstep, marketing spin, disinformation, lobbying foreign governments, organisations and businesses, various grants and reports and plans, were wrong by 3,769,963 Kangaroos, that is, less than the estimated quota. While the state governments like to pretend that the quota is now the maximum sustainable number, this cannot be correct and in some (more and more) place, quotas will be more than the actual population. Commercial shooters keep shooting as many Kangaroos as they can before moving to another location where these animals still remain, So not 10 or 15 or 20 per cent, but most of them”.

On the scale of bad when it comes to numbers, South Australia appears to be the worst of all.

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Here is our poem:

Hubble bubble, Kangaroo trouble

I am going to take you all back to my childhood in the Dolomites in Southern Austria to what now seems a very long time ago, the shadows of war had lifted. On one, of many, of my walks in these mountains and forests, one day, deep in a dark forest in a deeper valley still, there before me, a little gingerbread house, smoke drifting from the kitchen chimney.

Come inside the old witch said,
I will give you some gingerbread.

Listening carefully children? Don’t be frightened. I will continue.

Hubble bubble, Kangaroo trouble,
Nothing to fear my dear,
I am making a spell,
With a very big smell.

Hubble bubble, Kangaroo trouble,
Once inside, the caldron boiled,
What to do so nothing gets spoiled?
Here the old witch laid her spell,
But it did not seem to be going that well.

Hubble bubble, Kangaroo trouble,
Come on Peter, you can help here,
Try and lay out everything, so it is clear.

Hubble bubble, Kangaroo trouble,
We need some ABC and some rotten old tea to give them a scare,
and make them think they are everywhere.

Hubble bubble, Kangaroo trouble,
Add something nasty from that old drain,
To make them believe it is all humane.

Hubble bubble, Kangaroo trouble,
The caldron boiled, as the old witch toiled,
My spells are wrong,
They don’t belong.
Add some poo,
From Adelaide zoo.

Hubble bubble, Kangaroo trouble,
Now that is better,
Here it comes,
A plan, hooray what fun,
What a wonderful day for everyone.

Hubble bubble, Kangaroo trouble,
Now everyone can go away.
Don’t ever check to see its right,
If you do just that, you will get a fright,
It will keep you up almost every night.

Don’t worry though, We just sign today, and hope everything will just go away.

Once all the Kangaroos are dead,
We can all just eat the gingerbread.

Try and lay out everything, so it is clear

The Nature Knowledge Channel describes the situation for Kangaroos in South Australia with an Australian overview. Please think about what the numbers are telling you.

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