Australian Environmental Law

Environmental Law and Wildlife Smuggling in Australia
Hypothesis: That there have to be stricter laws and regulations about illegally importing and exporting Australian and foreign wildlife, and these laws have to be more strongly enforced. Additionally, there should be stronger penalties for those caught illegally smuggling animals across the Australian border. There should be more intense investigations into the black market and illegal smuggling. Are the fines enough compared to the amount the people selling these animals enough in comparison to the amount being made? Is the risk worth the money? Could a legal animal trade benefit Australia economically?
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the ways its animals
There have been no serious long-term investigations into the trade, and currently the closest Australia has to an investigative task force into the issue is border security, which does not have the means to follow the trade closely. In addition the money being made in this industry is a mystery as well, though it is estimated some native Australian birds are being sold for up to $30,000. With this in mind, it must be considered that the fines being given to perpetrators may simply not be proportionate to the amount of money they are making from the black market. If it is possible to make thousands of dollars on one native bird, it is not unreasonable to think that there may be people out there making a small fortune from this trade and that the risk of a few hundred thousand dollar fine is simply not enough to deter these criminals when they may be able to make the money back in a few months. Because of the lack of extensive investigation into this trade it is unknown how many animals are being sold annually and thus the environmental impacts may only become clear in the future when it is too late and new native species enter the danger list. However, from what is known of other wildlife trades in alternate countries, there can be no doubt that the animals being taken and traded will not be treated humanely by any of the parties involved. A suggestion which has been made is open up a legal trade of Australian wildlife, so that the animals will be properly cared for and regulations can be put on the trade where the law and government has been unable to do so before due to the illusiveness of the industry. This would also benefit the Australian economy by allowing a profit to be made off of Australia’s native species. Yet, while it would have a positive impact on the economy, there is no way to be certain that this course of action would