Latest news with #CrocodileControlandConservationBill2025
Sky News AU
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Firebrand politician Bob Katter reignites his war of words with Terri Irwin over his 'lazy' crocodile hunting push
Firebrand politician Bob Katter has reignited his war of words with Terri Irwin, the widowed wife of beloved Australian conservationist Steve Irwin, after she labelled his bid to legalise crocodile hunting 'lazy' and 'sloppy'. Dr Irwin, director of Australia Zoo, was among nearly 200 stakeholders who made submissions to the committee overseeing a controversial bill introduced by Katter's Australian Party to allow croc culling and egg harvesting to keep populations in check and make recreational waterways safer. 'The Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2025 will increase the probability of crocodile attacks on people and impact the overall health of Queensland waterways,' Dr Irwin said in her submission. 'More than sixty percent of the clauses in this Bill are exactly the same as previous versions. In fact, it is such a lazy and sloppy attempt to recycle old draft legislation that the Explanatory Notes refers to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection – the department has not been called that since 2017.' Speaking to Sky News, Bob Katter vehemently defended criticisms from Dr Irwin and Australia Zoo. 'What the hell would they know about it? They live in Brisbane. All they know about is crocodiles in cages. They've never lived where the crocodiles are,' Mr Katter said. 'Even I don't want crocodiles in cages.' Sky News requested an interview with Dr Irwin but a reply has not been received. Mr Katter's Australian Party's bill, which proposes the establishment of a Cairns-based Queensland Crocodile Authority to oversee a permanent crocodile culling program, has been rejected by a parliamentary committee. The bill seeks to legislate licencing for crocodile farms and sanctuaries, safari-style hunting and egg harvesting as a means of controlling the reptiles' growing populations and making recreational waterways safer. But the Health, Environment and Innovation Committee overseeing the bill has recommended it not be passed. "The committee agrees that public safety should always be a paramount consideration but ultimately concluded that no amount of culling or management will ever fully erase the danger posed by crocodiles," the committee's report said. Mr Katter said growing crocodile populations and a geographical expansion of their habitat was the result of an 'imbalance' in Queensland waterways caused by a 1970s ban of crocodile culling and egg harvesting. Reintroducing the controversial practice would keep the populations in check and reduce the risks of attacks on humans, he said. 'Human beings took the eggs for 40,000 years. You've stopped the human being from taking the eggs,' he said. 'Not one single one of the 300,000 crocodiles in North Queensland has ever got shot. If I've got a crocodile on my cattle station, I'm not even allowed to remove them. 'They're territorial. The mother has 60 little crocodiles. Well, they got to find a home and all North Queensland is territorialised now, so all they can do is move south.' A suspected crocodile sighting in the Noosa River on the Sunshine Coast in July has reignited debate about crocodile management in Queensland. Images captured by local fisherman James Graham through a sonar fish-finder of a crocodile-like figure on the riverbed have gone viral and made national news headlines. 'If I was in my normal fishing spots, a couple of hundred meters north, that's what a croc looks like,' he said. 'The thought (of a crocodile in the Noosa River) is truly absurd.' Dr Ross Dwyer, crocodile expert with the University of the Sunshine Coast, said it would be possible for a crocodile to inhabit the Noosa River, but 'highly unlikely'. 'This would be the furthest south a crocodile has been spotted down here in over 100 years,' he said. 'During the 20th century, crocodiles were hunted so extensively they were pushed back in their range in Queensland, and what we're seeing is the crocodiles starting to expand back into that natural habitat again. 'The Noosa River could be good habitat if there wasn't all that built up area and the water was warmer. 'The crocodile population is expanding. The water is warming up and we are going to see more of them in these southern parts of the range. 'They do have an important role in these waterways and it's something that we need to be proud of in Australia.' Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers shot a crocodile found in the Mary River near Maryborough in February. "(Shooting) is certainly one of the tools in the toolbox and we do employ it in situations where public safety (is affected by) the risk of the crocodile persisting in the area," a spokesman told the ABC.
Sky News AU
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Wild quarrel over Queensland croc culling bill emerges as Bob Irwin Snr unleashes on maverick politician Bob Katter
A fierce debate over a controversial Queensland crocodile culling bill is heating up, with Bob Irwin Snr not holding back about his feelings towards federal politician Bob Katter. The Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2025 introduced to Queensland's parliament by Katter's Australian Party (KAP) in February would legalise the culling of crocodiles in the state. Debate over the proposed legislation has now boiled over, with Mr Katter and KAP now publicly trading jabs with the Irwin family following a lengthy submission on the bill by Australia Zoo. The father of Australian conservationist icon Steve Irwin has told The Courier Mail he thinks Mr Katter is 'a d***head', telling the masthead to 'put it on record'. '....and you can actually tell him who said it as well,' Mr Irwin said on Wednesday. 'He's not listening to the people that know, he has no idea of how the environment works, and that's his problem.' The heated comments from the 86-year-old came after he appeared at Queensland's parliament for a hearing regarding crocodile management, according to the masthead. The Australia Zoo founder's daughter-in-law Terri Irwin has spoken out about the culling proposal, calling the bill "lazy and sloppy" in a submission on the bill. She claimed the legislation would increase the likelihood of crocodile attacks on people, and slammed the proposal as being an attempt to 'recycle old draft legislation'. Mr Katter last week hit back at Ms Irwin for her criticism of his party's bill, calling out Australia Zoo for keeping the reptiles in captivity. 'She knows all about it, well I'm a bit fascinated by that. How would you know about crocodiles if you live in Brisbane?,' the federal member for Kennedy said in a video posted on social media. 'Oh that's right, she's got them all locked up in a cage in Brisbane, I'd forgotten about that.' The maverick politician's son and KAP leader Robbie Katter took to social media on Wednesday to address Ms Irwin over the remarks detailed in the submission. 'You make money out of crocodiles by keeping them in cages. I don't know what qualifies you to give advice on the way we live up north,' the party leader said in a Facebook post. Earlier on Wednesday, a cartoon was posted on the KAP Facebook page that appeared to show Ms Irwin, the ghost of Steve Irwin, and a crocodile angrily staring at a KAP member holding a gun with 'Cull Plan' written on it.
