Mr CAMPBELL(7.51 p.m.) —What I am raising tonight is a matter of grave concern to me. When I left high school I got a job catching animals for zoos. It was a very interesting occupation and I think it was very valuable to Australia. In 1958, the last year in which the company I worked for operated, the company exported something like 7,500 kangaroos, mainly to the United States, for the price of £125 each. In 1958 it was a lot of money and it was good money for Australia.

Due to the insistence of the RSPCA in New South Wales and Victoria, the government took steps to ban that export, effective as from 1 January 1960. In the same year, the kangaroo meat export business boomed. Seven pence a pound was the going price for exports to Germany of kangaroo meat for human consumption. It was sold as Australian venison. Unfortunately, that industry was abused. When the maggots hatched out, the Germans stopped that import.

I want to talk about the effect of that. The silly legislation banning that export led to enormous cruelty involving the export of animals. It did not stop the export of animals; it simply drove it underground. The company I worked for regularly had trappers out on the fields legally trapping certain birds. Rare species were clearly avoided. Those trappers in the field took great steps to make sure there was no illegal trapping. Of course, once the ban was imposed the field was left wide open to illegal trappers. There is some evidence of the enormous cruelty and loss of life involved in the export of fauna. There can be no doubt that it happened.

I would like to give the House the benefit of some figures involving the United States. The red-bearded dragon—pogona vitticeps—which is local to the Eyre Peninsula area, was not known to the United States until 1992. It was then worth $10,000. The price today is down to $150, and they have learnt to bring in techniques that will undoubtedly make the price go lower. The knob-tailed gecko—nephrurus—is another one. It was not in the United States until 10 years ago. Now they have mutations there and are in fact exporting them. None of these was exported to America legally.

The United States is now the biggest exporter of the python molarus, which is a Burmese python. So the CITIES legislation has really counted for nothing. Birds are no different, of course. The cacatua roseicapilla, better known here as the galah, is fetching substantial prices in the United States.

Raymond Hoser wrote a book called Smuggled. He has just recently written the sequel, Smuggled 2, which contains a foreword from the Minister for Defence (Mr McLachlan). The book raises very great concerns about the obvious corruption involving the authorities in this business in Australia, principally the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. The allegations in this book are so serious that I believe they do need to be thoroughly investigated.

Recently, the New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Service, and a couple of other people—Mr Victor Bates and Mr Vacik—tried in the Supreme Court of New South Wales to get an injunction to stop the distribution of the book. Judge Levine refused to do that. He said there was no inference at all that allegations were unsubstantiated, and in fact gave costs favouring Mr Hoser.

The interesting thing is that, when I have spoken to journalists about Mr Hoser, many of them have said, `Do not touch him, this man has got a criminal record.' It is not hard to get a criminal record when you are dealing with crooks, as exists in some of these departments. In most states of Australia, we have allowed these people entry to people's homes without warrants. Of course it is abused.

Mr Hoser is now once more being subjected to another appeal as there is judge swapping. This is such a serious matter that it ought to be investigated. I have no faith whatsoever in royal commissions or the political system. I believe it should be thoroughly investigated by a parliamentary committee. This is the only body which I can see would actually get to the bottom of the allegations in the book. The book has substance. It is readable. It is very credible. After all, it has a foreword written by the minister. If we do not investigate the book, it would be an indictment of all of us. (Time expired)