The Dingo Dilemma: Is it time to rethink our approach to native predators?

A legacy of contradiction

In my years as a GP, I have learnt that the most effective way to address any ailment is to look past the symptoms and examine the root cause. When we look at the state of Western Australia through an ecological lens, we face a similar challenge with the dingo. For too long, the dingo has been trapped in a legislative paradox. On one page of our statute books, it is protected native wildlife. On another, it is a declared pest. This is not some trifling bureaucratic error. This contradiction serves as the foundation for state-sanctioned programs that utilise aerial poison baiting and steel-jawed traps. It is a system that treats one of our most important native species as if it were a modern-day demon needing to be purged.

The risk here is not just to the dingo. The use of 1080 poison—a compound that is indiscriminate and agonizing—poses a visceral danger to our broader environment. It is a silent threat resting in the bush. Families taking their children or their dogs for a hike in our national parks are walking through a high-stakes waiting room. If your pet consumes a bait, the result is often a slow, terrifying, and avoidable death. When we prioritize a blunt instrument of control over science-led management, we are gambling with public safety and the health of our native ecosystems.

The human and ecological cost

We often talk about the economy, but there is a profound human and ecological cost to this struggle. I witness the sinking feeling in communities torn between the desire for genuine land stewardship and the fear of financial ruin caused by livestock loss. However, we must ask if our current strategy is actually working. We have spent decades, billions of dollars, and millions of non-target animal lives on a strategy of eradication that has failed to suppress the conflict. When we disrupt the social structures of apex predators, we often inadvertently trigger a breakdown in the natural order of the land.

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Defining a new path

What we propose is not radical chaos, but an evidence-based evolution. We have traditional custodians reminding us that dingo law is ecological law. We have farmers demonstrating that when dingoes are allowed to function as an apex predator, the land begins to heal, soil quality improves, and the landscape finds a new equilibrium. We are not calling for an overnight abandonment of regional safety. We are calling for an honest, independent investigation into whether we can move beyond the cruelty of the past and start using the intelligence of the future.

The science is clear: relying on the same outdated methods while expecting a different result is not policy, it is stubbornness. We deserve a system that values cultural wisdom, listens to ecological evidence, and prioritizes humane outcomes for both our livestock and our wildlife. Please take the time to read the full account of this motion in the official Parliamentary record. If you believe, as I do, that we need a government that prizes evidence-based compassion over the status quo, I invite you to join the movement at Legalise Cannabis WA today.