Call for Integrity Commisssion investigation into fox scandal

Following from today’s ABC Radio National Background Briefing program on the Fox Eradication Program (FEP), Tasmanians for Transparency (TfT) are calling on Minister Jeremy Rockcliff to request that the Tasmanian Integrity Commission (TIC) conduct an investigation into the FEP.

Interviewed on Background Briefing was Australia’s top fox expert Dr Clive Marks, Marks was one of a team of seven research scientists who recently co-authored several papers on the FEP. These papers have been published in peer reviewed scientific journals and expose serious deficiencies in the science used to back the FEP which has received millions of dollars in funding from state and federal governments over the last 12 years.

30 other scientists from the UK, USA, EU and Australia reviewed the research by this group of internationally recognised scientists led by Dr Clive Marks.

Tasmanians for Transparency have received information that some public servants have threatened or bullied some of the people involved with the critique of the FEP and this misconduct needs to be thoroughly investigated.

Minister Jeremy Rockcliff’s announcement on 1st May that he will establish a new Biosecurity Division within DPIPWE will not in any way address the serious questions this group of scientists has raised about the FEP.

Minister Rockcliff needs to respond to the public’s interest in this matter especially as it relates to expenditure of over $50 million dollars on what many in the community now see as a bogus FEP.

A proper investigation by the Tasmanian Integrity Commission that will give effective protection to whistleblowers, such as the anonymous person who spoke today on the Background Briefing program, must be conducted to get to the truth of the matters raised by this collaboration of independent scientists.

Spokesperson for TFT, Matthew Holloway stated; “We have strong concerns that the public is now finding out that they were potentially mislead for over a decade. This is happening at a time that the public recently discovered that a number of departmental libraries have been closed to the public over the last 12 months. A culture of secrecy should not be allowed to become further entrenched in our institutions especially at a time that the razor is about to be wielded across public sector jobs.”

“There are some very serious questions that need to be answered, the Tasmanian public have suffered massive unemployment, the worst health system in the nation in addition to public sale of state assets. The mismanagement of millions of tax payer dollars into what might appear to be a bogus Fox Eradication Program deserves serious investigation with anyone incriminated being held to account.” said Matthew Holloway.
Spokesperson for Tasmanians For Transparency, Matthew Holloway