Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2011L01416:body:0:p7
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2011L01416
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 16762–19645

subject to there being a significant change to the technical hurdles identified in the review of CSIRO's cane toad biological control research (Shannon and Bayliss 2008) or some other significant step in 'proof of concept'. This TAP has a five year operating time-frame and based on currently available information it is not anticipated that such evidence could be provided during its operation.

Community action to manually remove cane toads from the landscape has also received Australian Government funding (approximately $1.3 million from 1986 to 2009). Government agencies in Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have contributed to cane toad control efforts. However, there is no evidence that these endeavours have prevented the continued spread of the pest or significantly limited its impact on Australia's biodiversity. Community action, while satisfying to local communities, does not have the capacity to make any significant changes to the rate of spread of cane toads or to the densities of cane toads beyond specific local areas. However, where community action is focused on cane toad management to protect assets at a local scale it could help maintain priority biodiversity assets.

A decade of effort around Port Macquarie may have resulted in local eradication from that area. However, the cane toad is likely to be towards the southern limits of its "natural" range in this region of northern New South Wales, and climatic factors may have assisted control efforts. An additional factor in the success of this effort is likely to have been the status of the Port Macquarie infestation as an isolated satellite population (Peacock 2007).

The biological effects, including lethal toxic ingestion, caused by Cane Toads (Bufo marinus) (Threatened Species Scientific Committee 2005) was listed as a key threatening process under the EPBC Act in 2005 in response, in particular, to concerns about the impact of cane toads on the northern quoll. At the time of this listing, the then Minister for the Environment and Heritage decided that the development of a TAP would not be an efficient way to abate the threat posed by cane toads.

In 2009, this decision was reviewed by the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Consultation with colleagues in state and territory governments about the feasibility, effectiveness and efficiency of developing and implementing a TAP to abate the cane toad threat was undertaken, and national coordination emerged as a dominant theme in support of developing a TAP at this time.

This TAP provides a national strategy to guide investment and effort by the Australian Government, jurisdictions, research organisations and non-government organisations in abating the impact of cane toads across their known and anticipated range. This TAP identifies key assets (native species