I rise this afternoon to inform the House of the opening of the new Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors Worldwide Australian Wildlife Hospital at Beerwah. On Saturday 15 November, Steve Irwin Day, I joined with Senator Mark Furner, Terri Irwin and her children, Robert and Bindi, to do the unveiling.

The wildlife hospital is one of the biggest conservation projects that the Irwin family has undertaken. The hospital is a $3.7 million state-of-the-art facility which will play a vital role in native Australian wildlife conservation, incorporating wildlife rescue, surgery and rehabilitation, with a focus on education and research. Our much-loved Steve Irwin, whom we all miss terribly, had always said that wildlife, habitat and people all depend on each other; and a healthy environment requires an investment in humanity and the support of a global community-that is what nature intended. Here we see the Wildlife Warriors, Australia Zoo, the federal, state and local governments, business and the community all coming together to make his vision a reality. The new hospital has the capacity to treat up to 10,000 wildlife patients every year. I am so proud of the work that all of the team do at the hospital, especially Dr Jon Hangar and Gail Gipps.

I also want to comment briefly on the appalling lack of environmental awareness in relation to crocodiles that the Liberal National Party has displayed. Its usual motto of ‘if it grows knock it down, if it moves shoot it’ continues to apply. The crocodile research program which the LNP so disparagingly refers to is a successful program that encompasses the tracking of crocodiles both by satellite and acoustic telemetry and is producing results that have worldwide impact and application regarding the movement patterns and activities of estuarine crocodiles.

Professor Franklin of the University of Queensland, in collaboration with the late Steve Irwin and the EPA, has been doing groundbreaking work in relation to crocodile behaviour since 2003. This research will now continue at the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve on Cape York Peninsula. This research has the overriding goal of providing much-needed information that will aid in the management and conservation of crocodiles.

The LNP sees fit to denigrate this research and to misguide people into thinking that this work was in some way connected with a recent fatality at the Endeavour River at Cooktown and an earlier one at Lakefield National Park. These are completely unrelated matters and it reflects very badly on the opposition that it should try to link them for cheap political reasons. The minister has asked that the crocodile management program be reviewed now and continuously in the future. Scientific experts and interested parties have been consulted as part of this review and their knowledge needs to be incorporated in any changes that are made.

I love the wild areas that we have in this state and whenever I am in crocodile territory I obey the rules which will keep me safe: do not go into water or stay on the water’s edge when in north Queensland and do not camp beside the water. There are very basic rules which ensure your safety and if everyone obeyed them then there would not be any problems. Humans are supposed to be the smartest creatures on earth. It is about time that we proved it by staying out of the crocodile’s territory.