The Hon. J. F. RYAN [4.28]: I put on the record a number of additional concerns I
have about the manner in which the law enforcement branch of the
National Parks and Wildlife Service has handled complaints against
the proprietor, or perhaps the now former proprietor, of the
Featherdale Wildlife Park at Doonside, who I will today name, Mr
Bruce Kubbere. I hold documents that indicate that the owner of the
park has come to the attention of the NPWS on numerous occasions
since 1970 for serious and wilful breaches of wildlife protection
laws. In many instances the breaches of law have been detected by
experienced field officers who have a reputation for their
no-nonsense adherence to the law - perhaps the "Merv Beck Raiders" of
the wildlife service.
When field officers have detected breaches
of the law and sought to prosecute Mr Kubbere they have been stopped
from doing so by senior officers, frequently for reasons that have
been unexplained. One such officer who detected offences was Mr Clive
Bennett. In 1971 he visited property owned by Mr Kubbere and seized
numerous young spoonbill and ibis fledglings from the property. Mr
Kubbere claimed that he did not know how they got onto his property.
Despite Mr Kubbere's claims, Mr Bennett laid charges, which were
subsequently lifted by senior officers of the National Parks and
Wildlife Service, without explanation, before they reached court.
Later Mr Bennett visited the Featherdale Wildlife Park and discovered
numerous discrepancies between actual number of animals held at the
park and the number suggested by the records kept by Mr Kubbere. Mr
Bennett again proceeded to take action. Mr Kubbere attended a
function at which the then Minister for Health, Laurie Brereton, and
the then Minister for Planning and Environment, Eric Bedford, were
present. He complained about Mr Bennett to the Ministers. The next
day Mr Bennett was called in and reprimanded for his actions and was
told to make arrangements to hand back records or evidence taken from
Mr Kubbere.
I have an extraordinary report signed by Mr
Jack Giles, then assistant director of the wildlife branch of the
National Parks and Wildlife Service, now a senior executive of
Taronga Zoo. He reported
[Page 4675]
that Mr Bennett's action had been the
subject of complaints to Mr Brereton and the Minister for the
Environment and he criticised Mr Bennett for being too
confrontational. He ordered him to fall into line with the practice
adopted by other investigators of checking with head office before
they conducted inspections of suspect properties. Finally, Mr Bennett
was told to return the evidence which he had collected from Mr
Kubbere as rapidly as possible. I also have a report from Mr
Bennett's immediate superior officer, who answers in full all of Mr
Giles' complaints about Mr Bennett. He complained that head office
was attempting to emasculate his law enforcing efforts. These
reports, when read together, provide a fascinating insight into how
mates looked after mates in the Wran Government.
In 1984 Mr Bennett again had cause to
investigate Mr Kubbere. This time it was as a result of an
advertisement in a newspaper in which Mr Kubbere indicated that he
had rare Australian native birds for sale. Mr Bennett uncovered the
fact that Mr Kubbere had the birds and did not have a licence to hold
them, much less sell them. Mr Bennett sought permission from the
previously mentioned Jack Giles to prosecute Kubbere. According to a
statement made by Mr Bennett to police he was told by Mr Giles not to
take action because the Minister was "reviewing all exhibitors and
you do not need to inspect premises". I also have a 1988 report from
the National Parks and Wildlife Service prepared by Mr Patrick
Holland, who now works in the office of the Minister for the
Environment. In that report it is clear that Featherdale Wildlife
Park was the subject of a visit by a ranger called Ken Blade, who
found that Mr Kubbere again did not have his record books up to date.
Mr Kubbere had to leave in a hurry just before representatives of the
parks service arrived. Mr Blade was given three conflicting reasons
for Mr Kubbere's hurried departure. Later Mr Holland reported a
conversation in which Mr Kubbere admitted that he did not have his
books up to date. In that report Mr Kubbere is quoted as
saying:
Look I have done you lots of favours over the years. John Cook used to bring the new rangers out here to look at the place and learn the ropes. John still calls in from time to time . . . I have done a lot for you people. I have a donation box and I've given John Cook information about other fauna dealers . . . Look I'm a busy man, I only get to do the books once or twice a week.
Mr Kubbere was again told to submit his
books. I do not know what happened after this incident but I
understand that once again Mr Kubbere escaped legal action. I make no
suggestion that Mr Holland, from Pam Allan's office, acted
improperly. Another ranger, Bob Conroy, had reason to recommend
action against Mr Kubbere in July 1992 for offences again involving
trading in rare birds. I have a document indicating that he had to
chase up senior parks service officers to take action against Mr
Kubbere five months later. In March Mr Kubbere received a letter from
Mr D. A. Johnstone of the National Parks and Wildlife Service telling
him that although prosecution action had not been instituted against
him on this occasion, his attention was drawn to a number of matters,
which I take it were found to be inadequate. Why was action not taken
against him? It was hardly his first offence. I also have a memo from
the same Bob Conroy dated a month later indicating that he wished to
discuss, among other things, with senior National Parks and Wildlife
Service staff, items such as the apparent protection of some fauna
dealers - birds exhibitors. How lucky can a person get? Mr Kubbere
appears to have been a protected species himself. [Time
expired.]
Extract from the Legislative Council Hansard of
26/09/96 - Corrected Copy
©Copyright Parliament of New South Wales.
Feedback is welcome.
This page is maintained in the LC Hansard Articles - 51st Parliament
database. Last updated 08/11/96.
The Hon. J. F. RYAN [4.45]: Honourable members may recall that during the last
sitting week I raised a number of matters relating to the enforcement
of wildlife regulations by the enforcement branch of the National
Parks and Wildlife Service and I made particular mention of the
Featherdale Wildlife Park at Doonside. In addition, my colleague the
Hon. R. S. L. Jones addressed a question without notice to the
Minister for the Environment about the same matter. I named a number
of people and tabled a wad of documents which confirmed that for over
20 years the manager
[Page 4971]
of Featherdale Wildlife Park, Mr Bruce
Kubbere, had been protected by senior officials of the National Parks
and Wildlife Service from being prosecuted for failing to keep proper
records, failing to report the deaths of about 50 koalas, illegally
selling protected birds that he had no licence to keep in the first
place, obtaining koalas from the wild and falsifying records to pass
them off as being captive breed exhibits.
I said then and I say again that none of
these well-documented allegations has brought the slightest response
from the Minister or the National Parks and Wildlife Service. I
interpret that lack of response to mean that no response is possible
because no legitimate answer is available to the questions which I
have raised in this House. If the senior officers involved think that
this issue will just go away they are greatly mistaken. I have plenty
more material and I will keep raising this issue until I get a
satisfactory response. The constraints of time have prevented me from
raising all these issues at once, so I will continue this process
until all the story is out and a satisfactory explanation is
given.
Today I refer to the actions of both
Taronga Zoo and the National Parks and Wildlife Service in selling or
giving protected birds to Mr Kubbere after they had been seized from
Allan Parmenter, a bird smuggler. I have a schedule of birds which
were taken from Mr Parmenter on 29 July 1987. By leave, I table that
document. I understand that it was, and still is, the policy of the
National Parks and Wildlife Service to seize illegal wildlife and
return it to the wild as soon as practicable. The operation in 1987
against Mr Parmenter netted 68 birds. I want to know why 22 of those
birds were either given or sold to Mr Bruce Kubbere rather than being
released to the wild. I want to know why the National Parks and
Wildlife Service even considered selling any protected wildlife to Mr
Kubbere, given his previously well-documented poor record in keeping
appropriate records and in selling protected wildlife without a
licence.
In view of Mr Kubbere's record, giving
protected birds to him was about the equivalent of giving chickens to
Colonel Sanders. Besides the concerns that I have raised today I wish
also to put on the record that I have spoken to at least two
employees - and I have the name and contact details of another former
employee of Mr Kubbere - who claim that they were physically harassed
by an associate of Mr Kubbere as a means of intimidating them and
preventing them from giving evidence to authorities. At the time that
an investigation was being carried out into Mr Kubbere's koala
handling procedures three former employees of the Featherdale
Wildlife Park received either personal visits or threatening phone
calls from a person called Marty Fiarugia, an associate of Mr
Kubbere. Both people have the same interest in collecting protected
birds.
In one instance, Mr Fiarugia, this
bird-collecting colleague of Mr Kubbere, visited the family of a
former Featherdale employee while he was away giving a statement to
the Department of Agriculture in Orange. Mr Fiarugia paid a second
visit to this employee and threatened to shoot him if he continued to
give evidence to authorities. The employee was so concerned that on
two occasions he reported these incidents to the police. This
evidence has been available to National Parks and Wildlife Service
officers but, to the best of my knowledge, they have never
interviewed the people concerned. I ask again: why has Mr Kubbere
been given such special treatment by the National Parks and Wildlife
Service? Why has it not taken action against him when it has
sufficient evidence to prosecute? Why did it sell Mr Kubbere
protected wildlife in view of what was known about him? When will the
National Parks and Wildlife Service respond to these serious
concerns?
Extract from the Legislative Council Hansard of
17/10/96 - Corrected Copy
©Copyright Parliament of New South Wales.
Feedback is welcome.
This page is maintained in the LC Hansard Articles - 51st Parliament
database. Last updated 11/11/96.