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Toad MediaMEDIA RELEASE20 June 2006This letter was sent to the Editor of the West Australian newspaper (20/6/06) in response to an opinion piece by Paul Murray (West Australian 20/6/06) which was ill-informed and dismissive of pubic efforts to stop the cane toad (as was a similar piece by Murray (27/5/06)). The editor of the West has not returned our concerned calls. On 26/7/06, nearly a week later, the editor published a part of our letter of response – sections in red were printed – remainder was deleted. Paul Murray Opinion - response from Stop The Toad FoundationPaul Murray’s opinion piece today (20/6/06) claims that “green politics” are getting in the way of toad busters, say(s) ing that the Stop The Toad Foundation has provided “none” of its funding to the Kimberley Toadbusters, a volunteer group who drive hundreds of kilometres most Saturday nights to kill toads in the Northern Territory. Wrong on both counts. The Foundation has always, and will in the future, welcome any application from the Kimberley Toadbusters for funding for cane toad activities which are strategic, cost effective, safe and legal. The fact is, since its inception in October 2005, the Foundation has, on many occasions, offered to reimburse Toadbusters’ costs (and in fact has paid about $4,000 for Kimberley Toadbuster’s September 2005 preliminary training costs). However, the Toadbusters have simply refused to provide the Foundation with any invoices, receipts or any basic accounting documentation to substantiate any reimbursement. As recently as last month, the Foundation offered to loan vehicles to Toadbusters – but the Toadbusters have not responded. The Foundation has now established a funding application process which is open to all - including the Toadbusters - which provides money and equipment for toad control activities. The reality is that on 21 April 2006 the Kimberly Toadbusters wrote to the Foundation stating they had actually decided not to apply for any funding from the Foundation - because they had made an arrangement with a private fundraising organisation! Paul Murray chose to report Sandy Boulter’s assertion that “The STTF has not caught a toad to our knowledge” – but in fact, the night before his article Channel Seven’s Today Tonight showed STTF’s board member Luc Longley and Regional Coordinator Graeme Sawyer in the field bagging toads! Murray also quotes the Campaign Manager saying that they trapped toads closer to the WA border than ever before, the preceding weekend. Why then print an assertion that the STTF has not caught any toads? Amongst other things the STTF also has:
The STTF is a strictly non-political, non-government, not-for-profit entity. While the STTF does have a State Government representative on its board, this is because the Foundation received a significant grant of money from the State and it is important to ensure transparency and proper accountability in expending that money. The STTF has made the same offer of representation on the board to the Federal Government if the Commonwealth makes a significant grant to the Foundation. The Stop The Toad Foundation (as Paul Murray this time accurately reports) has developed an overall strategy to stop toads entering WA. It works closely with CALM, scientists, and other groups and individuals in the region, and remains hopeful that it will eventually develop a sound working relationship with the Kimberley Toadbusters too.
Robert Edel |
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