Senator Eric Abetz

“Following on from the last round of Senate Estimates where we learned that Labor has wasted more that $750,000 of taxpayers’ money on its rabbits, cats, rats and mouse eradication scheme on Macquarie Island, today we were told that over 2000 seabirds have been killed,” Senator Abetz said today.

“This is a complete debacle which just goes from bad to worse.”

“The collateral damage seems worse that the problem the Government was seeking to eradicate.”

“Labor’s plan to eradicate human introduced vermin on Macquarie Island has resulted in the deaths of 2190 seabirds which have ingested the bait by consuming vermin carcasses.”

“That’s just the number we know of.  It’s likely many more died at sea,” Senator Abetz said.

“During the last Estimates we discovered that, of 305 tonnes of bait purchased by Labor, 210 tonnes of it was left to spoil and has been wasted because it can no longer be used.”

“In May we were told then that 900 birds had died. Today we learn that number has more than doubled and actual the number is expected to much higher,” Senator Abetz said.

“This is typical of Labor’s approach to a problem. Everything they do is badly thought out and done in a rush in their attempt to generate a headline.”

“Inevitably the only headlines Labor manages to generate are those that expose their gross mismanagement and wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money,” Senator Abetz said.