Question five: Where do we go from here? Its up to you!

[Bluetongue1]

Thank you Cement. I trust it was helpful.


With respect to the NPWS comment, their present attitudes are not going to change from within. There is an ingrained resistance to any change in bureaucracies, except those which give them more power. It will take a powerful lobby group to bring about sensible change that allows the management of the hobby to be streamlined, thus allowing the allocation of more time and resources into conservation and education.

Blue

 

[alzisman]

Hi all,
I am not usually writing anything but this topic is veryimportant to all of us so I was thinking if we can’t create a powerful lobbygroup by ourselves then maybe we should join forces with someone who has, likefor example fishing and shooting party? Or maybe someone else?
They done very good job with “Keep Australia Fishing”, maybetogether we can do “Keep Australia Breeding” (reptiles), I think it may workbetter to join someone with similar agenda than creating our one from scratch.
Cheers,
Alex.

 

[champagne]

id be happy to pay membership if it would help by getting stuff like varanus prasinus on license, If the group was aimed towards securing pure locality and rare species, I think a large number of people would join.

 

[glebo]

Hello All,
Herpetology in Australia has finally come of age. Each state or territory has a legal keeping system that all can access. Amateurs as well as professionals can now indulge themselves in extended contact with their chosen interest. Australia wide, the herpetological hobby and interest groups, and the industries that support them, both home grown and from overseas, are no longer a sideline. They are mainstream, involving hundreds of thousands of people and millions of dollars of turnover every year. Now that is potentially a force to be reckoned with!
From what I have read, seen and heard from many of you it appears we need or at least would really like to have some reptile interest representation at a Federal level. This would be a body that is taken seriously by Governments and their departments and befits a hobby/industry that incorporates the hundreds of thousands of people of like mind: reptile oriented.
I have had many herpetological conversations that get onto the problems the hobby/industry is experiencing. I guess it was from the wishful solutions that were vocalised, like: “if only we all...” or “if only all the state/territory departments...” that the seed of an idea was sown. It did seem that the time was ripe to consider establishing a Federal body to represent our collective concerns and interests. The personal feedback I got when I mentioned them to others in conversation was positive enough to warrant taking the next step.
Rather than jump in feet first, I decided to test the water one toe at time. You can blame that on working too long in the croc-infested north. So I posed a series of five questions (which can be found at the start of the General Discussion page) to illustrate and get people thinking about what a single representative body could do. As the feedback from each of the questions was encouraging, I put the proposal of forming a united Federal representative body out there. The one aspect that I did emphasise in the process was the strength in numbers when lobbying governments or politicians.
From all your feedback the required support to make it happen is definitely there. I thank you all for that (but don’t expect my wife to, as she reckons I work too much anyway). I must apologise for not getting back to people sooner. Rather than being idle (haa haa) or too busy (more likely) a small core of us have been examining the feasibility and long-term viability of such a project. We are very aware that it was tried once before and that it failed. We want to make sure that those mistakes will not be made again and that other potential pitfalls are avoided by having the right structure from the start. Shared responsibility goes a long way to making things involving people work, and to continue to function.
For the reasons just cited, the process of development should be as collaborative as possible. It will not be my (the small band of people working on the idea at them moment) association – it will be yours (everyone who has an interest in reptiles). So we have set up a basic skeleton and we want YOU to put the meat on the bones. For example, we recognise that the states/territories require a structure each that can then tap into the federal body. So we need to work with the states/territories to hone that into a reality. We also recognise that a federal body may not be active in a given state/territory until needed, yet we still need their on-going membership and support. So what does a national body offer you guys that is on-going and more than enough to get you to part with a few dollars each year?
Rather than go through the various ideas that have gone through my head to date or been sent to me by the many people who want this to happen, let me address it in an open forum at the Ipswich Scales and Tails Expo on the 9[SUP]th[/SUP] of November at the North Ipswich Reserve from 9am to 4pm. I think it is about time we started to get some ideas in the open, that includes both positive and negative feedback, so let me invite you all to the expo to speak with a few of us who will be there to discuss it and get feedback to help make it happen. We cannot do it without you and we need to get it right the first time and be proud of it, if we are going to address any issue regarding reptiles in Australia.
Kind Regards
Gavin Bedford

 

[Wild~Touch]

Will you be speaking in Melbourne and/or Sydney ?

A few of us won't be able to make the November date

Cheers
Sandee

 

[glebo]

Sandee, I would like to get the ball rolling and see how we go, what sort of support and enthusiasm and take it from there. It would be good to visit each state and territory over the course of time so will aim for that, but this is the first step and hope to speak to as many people as possible to start with.
Regards
Gavin

 

[Ramsayi]

Sandee, I would like to get the ball rolling and see how we go, what sort of support and enthusiasm and take it from there. It would be good to visit each state and territory over the course of time so will aim for that, but this is the first step and hope to speak to as many people as possible to start with.
Regards
Gavin

I'm sure the various herp societies around the country would be more than willing to have you speak at their meetings.Societies to my mind would be the very best place to start.

 

[azzmilan]

With the amount of misinformation about captive reptiles, I think it would be best if there's not only just a lisence but a test for each specific animal before you can buy it, that way no one can plead ignorance and everyone would have a certain standard of knowledge when it comes to their own reptiles.

 

[RoryBreaker]

With the amount of misinformation about captive reptiles, I think it would be best if there's not only just a lisence but a test for each specific animal before you can buy it, that way no one can plead ignorance and everyone would have a certain standard of knowledge when it comes to their own reptiles.

Really????

Reptile husbandry is not rocket science. There is a plethora of information available for newbies out there, both online and in some fantastic books. Plenty of naive/dumb/stupid people keep pets of all sorts, why should reptiles be singled out.

The misinformation you talk about ( other than random posts on forums) , where is there an example of it?

 

[Wild~Touch]

With the amount of misinformation about captive reptiles, I think it would be best if there's not only just a lisence but a test for each specific animal before you can buy it, that way no one can plead ignorance and everyone would have a certain standard of knowledge when it comes to their own reptiles.

IMO..Quite correct to a certain degree.. It depends where newbies glean their info. from.

Fancy websites and commercial shopfronts don't always live up to their claims.

You can't go wrong with modern day books authored by Qualified reptile keepers/vets/academics, eg .Geckodans Bookshop

Use your own intelligence and don't expect to be spoon-fed then you and your animals will come out fine.

 

[glebo]

Sorry to take so long to get back to you all.

Hi all,

The Scales and Tails Expo, held at Ipswich on the 9[SUP]th[/SUP] November, was utilised as the first public forum to discuss face to face the idea of establishing a national body for our hobby and industry. The unfortunate reality is that the interest shown on the day was insufficient to warrant continued development of the concept. The nature of the venue and its physical discomforts, clearly not foreseen by the organisers, did nothing to encourage attendance. However, while I am grateful to the 20 individuals who attended, in my mind it is insufficient to warrant continued effort with this project. Basically, the interest expressed has been very underwhelming!

I feel we are left with three choices. 1) Forget the whole deal, 2) give it a second chance now or 3) put it on the back burner with the intention of supplying further information for people who may want to help but are undecided. My passion and belief in what could be achieved have me wanting to make this happen. However, we have no intention of proceeding without a clear mandate that this is what you want, so at this stage option 3 is the go.

I have opened an email account and am asking you to send an email message to let me know that you are genuine in your support. If you have ideas on what this body should or could do, that would be appreciated as well. I envisage it as being much more than just functioning solely as a lobby group seeking legislative change. Conservation is a major role, along with education, legal support and grass roots facilitation, to name but a few functions that this group could achieve.

Bottom Line: If you believe, as Greg, Jamie, Mike and I do (and a few others of course), that a national body representing our hobby and interests could bring about positive changes that benefit us and the animals we find desirable and increase our potential to be involved with them in a positive way, then I need YOU to tell me that. The emails (and their suggestions) that I receive will indicate whether the project does or does not go ahead or is shelved for a period of time due to us not being ready. It is now up to you...

My email address is [email protected]

Have a great Xmas and I look forward to hearing from you in 2014.

Kind Regards

Gavin Bedford

 

[champagne]

I wouldn't base the scales and tales expo on support.... I emailed them and sent messages on facebook trying to get times of your talk as I couldn't stay all day at the expo and got no reply. when I was there it was very poorly advertised when and where you would be doing the talk, maybe getting on you tube or other social networks ie reptile radio where you can reach a larger viewer range would help. I think a lot of people still question what this national body wants to achieve. I also think that it should just be done and if it falls flat on its face then at least the people involved can say we tried. Put a list together with problems this national body wants to fix or achieve and it might get more support as people might see something that affects them or something they can benefit from ie no reptile imports but maybe allowing exports this would also increase the dollar value of the hobby therefore getting larger financial support the body will need to survive long term.