Senator COLSTON —I ask the Minister for the Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories whether he is aware that in the last eight years the population of the African elephant has halved as a result of illegal trade in ivory. Has the Government adopted any strategy in response to worldwide concern about the elephant's survival and, if so, what action is being taken?

Senator Archer —There are two in the zoo in Melbourne.

Senator RICHARDSON —The difficulty with Senator Archer's comment is that he shows no concern that the number of African elephants has gone down from 1.2 million in 1981 to 600,000 now. That is a matter of no concern to Senator Archer but one of considerable concern to people all around the world. In the environment statement the Prime Minister said:

Australia will be actively seeking a prohibition of trade in ivory, except for antique ivory, at the next convention on international trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna (CITES).

The next meeting of CITES will be in October of this year. Australia will vigorously support proposals to transfer the African elephant to appendix 1 of that treaty. The reason for that is that we need to act quickly to try to stamp out the illegal trade in ivory, which unfortunately is allowed to go on by so many countries and has meant that the poaching of those elephants has increased. The Prime Minister has recently written to the President of Kenya to congratulate him on his courageous action in destroying a very valuable collection of ivory as a gesture to show the world how seriously Kenya regards the problem. On 22 August this year the Prime Minister went further and announced that an immediate ban would be placed on the importation of ivory and other elephant products into Australia. That was done to show, in advance of the October meeting, that Australia means business. That announcement will be implemented by transferring the African elephant from schedule 2 to schedule 1 in the Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1982. Importers and all those concerned will be informed immediately.