Tassie fox hunt back in spotlight

FOXES may have largely dropped from Tasmania’s public conscience when the government disbanded the costly program set up to “eradicate” the pest, but the controversy live son. More than 100 potential sightings have been logged since the program was axed four years ago.

None of the 112 reported sightings given to the Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water and Environment between April, 2016 and July this year were found to be a fox. “The reports are often found to be a cat, possum or dog. The department thanks the community for their diligence in reporting suspected fox sightings. All reports are recorded in a database to monitor any trends in any particular areas,” a spokesman said this week. Tasmania’ s $42 mo ffici al fox hunt was disbanded in April 2016, but debate about the veracity of the claims that foxes had established a foothold and the cost of the program continues.

As late as October 22, Rosevears MLC Ivan Dean continued his campaign to expose the program in Tasmania’ s Upper House, a campaign he says has been exhausting and come at a huge financial and personal cost to him and his supporters.

Since the Fox Taskforce was established in 2002, Mr Dean has raised concerns in Parliament almost 100 times that Tasmanians were hoodwinked and the federal government unnecessarily provided funding.

When it was disbanded by the state government, responsibility was transferred to the Invasive Species Unit, which now keeps a much less intenselook-outforfoxes.

Mr Dean has continued to press for further investigation into the campaign and says foxes which were brought in from the mainland never gained a foot hold in Tasmania.

“Our Tasmanian foxes literally disappeared from public consciousness with a change of government in 2014,” Mr Dean told the Legislative Council in September.

“The cruel part is those who continue to manipulate the evidence and those who brought in dead fox bodies and scats have never been publicly identified.

“According to DPIPWE there have been over 3000 suspected fox sightings over the past 16 or so years. Were any corroborated with trustworthy evidence or the capture, shooting, poisoning or photographing of a fox? The answer is no .”

One of the officers at the fore front during the $40m campaign to “eradicate’’ foxes concedes mistakes were made and money was wasted.

But former Fox Taskforce officer Nick Mooney has warned the“demoni sing” of the 15- year program could see Tasmania slow or loath to act if

fox es became a problem.

“Things such as standard operating procedures that required two people when one would have been fine [is an example of waste]. Other things were done in a clumsy manner ,” Mr Mooney said.

At the peak of the fox hunt, the Fox Task force had 63 staff and 34 vehicles at its disposal.

“The effort was unprecedented after all and not always well staffed,” Mr Mooney said in response to Mr Dean’ s comments in Parliament.

“However, I think the basic extreme precautionary reaction appropriate since the risks are so high.

“The problem now is that, after all this public demo ni sing of the program and its staff, I suspect we will have to

have fox es pouring out of our ears before anything substantial will bed one next time. And there will almost certainly be a next time — millions of foxes on mainland Australia are not just going to disappear, and risks of accidents [such as a fox escaping a ship at Burnie in 1998] and malicious actions can not be eliminated .”

Mr Dean’s recent Upper House

motion was that the Integrity Commission’s report into the investigations into allegations of misconduct in the Fox Taskforce and eradication program be considered and noted.

Mr Dean said fighting for the truth had taken a toll on himself and his supporters, and he was tabling the report again to bring some relief to those who had stood behind him.

He said community whistleblower Ian Rist had suffered tremendously because he dared to challenge “spurious” evidence used to build the case that fox es needed eradicating.

“Mr Rist was accused of being on dope/cannabis by a senior officer in the Invasive Animals Co-operative Research Centre during the parliamentary inquiry into the funding of the fox program,” Mr Dean told Parliament.

“I also want to publicly acknowledge the sterling work of Dr David O bend or f and Dr Clive Marks .”

The Integrity Commission investigation into allegations of misconduct

in the Fox Taskforce found no employees had fabricated or falsified evidence, and misinformation was not used to secure Commonwealth funding.

Mr Dean has been critical of the Integrity Commission investigation. “Am I happy with the Integrity Commission investigation? No I am not,” he told his Upper House colleagues.

“I have many concerns with the findings and the fact that the investigating officer relies heavily on referring to the precautionary principle as away around not making any adverse findings.

“The final report states that the civil standards has been applied — that is on balance of probabilities. The criminal law requires satisfaction beyond any reasonable doubt .”

Mr Dean said money would have been better spent eradicating Tasmania’s exploding population of feral cats.

Mr Mooney said the fox money would not have been available to deal with feral cats.

“Foxes were — and I hope still are —regarded as an emergency, and cats area non going problem ,” he said.

Those who continue to evidence and manipulate the in dead fox those who brought have never bodies and scats have been publicly i dent if right MLC Ivan Dean,