Media release
Fraser Island Dingoes Should Not Become Political Football
National Dingo Preservation and Recovery Program (Inc. A0051763G)
Date: Monday February 20, 2012
Today, the National Dingo Preservation and Recovery Program expressed its disappointment at the way in which flawed and unreliable data from Queensland’s Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), relating to alleged dingo attacks on Fraser Island are being provided as evidence at the Azaria Chamberlain inquest in the Northern Territory.
National Dingo Preservation and Recovery Program spokesperson, Dr Ernest Healy, stated today that:
‘DERM has applied a ridiculously loose standard in labeling contact between dingoes and humans on Fraser Island as ‘attacks’ or as ‘dangerous’. The Department has applied a no-tolerance approach to dingo-human contact, whereby virtually any contact at all has been labeled as ‘aggression’ on the part of the dingo. DERM has persisted with categorizing the most trivial forms of contact as aggressive, for which large numbers of dingoes have been put down.
Dr Healy added:
‘That these flawed records, a product of the mismanagement of the Fraser Island dingo population, should now be used to further vilify the reputation of the dingo in the Azaria Chamberlain case appears self-serving on DERM’s part. One has to wonder if DERM is now using the Azaria Chamberlain inquest to attempt to legitimize its track record of dingo mismanagement on Fraser Island. If so, this situation is one that all Queenslanders should be outraged about.’
That records compiled as a part of the mismanagement of the Fraser Island dingo population should now be used to vilify the dingo in another context highlights the need for a judicial enquiry into Fraser Island dingo management by DERM. A change of government in Queensland in the near future may provide the catalyst for such an enquiry.’
Contacts: Ernest Healy, ernest.healy@arts.monash.edu.au