Community Voice Australia-Central Coast and Save The Bees Australia demand an immediate halt to the poisoning of millions of native Australian bees through Fipronil that is currently occurring in NSW under government orders. 

Australia’s unique bee populations are already under threat from habitat loss, pesticide usage and effects of natural disasters. Fipronil is known to kill native bees for up to three years - this can destroy the livelihoods of our local beekeepers and spell financial ruin for their families.

The local community petitions the following:

• The immediate halting and removal of Fipronil baiting in NSW Red Zones
• A Judicial enquiry into the relationship between Government, Industry funded lobby groups, and Organisations representing Chemical Company interests, who have authority and sway over Government policies related to Bees. 

Even native stingless bees and other nectar-feeding insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals that may visit the dead, sprayed bee nests may get contaminated and die from Fipronil poisoning.

This poison has already been banned in the UK and Europe because it kills bees. Yet the Fipronil rollout has been approved by our national regulator, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) who  in fact, receives  funds from Agrichemical companies.

In light of the conflict of interest with partnerships between government and industry, we are also calling for a judicial enquiry into the relationship between Government, Industry funded lobby groups, and Organisations representing Chemical Company interests who influence Government policies related to Bees.

Australia has around 1,650 species of native bees that we know of, out of which three are currently recognised by the federal government as critically endangered. 

Land clearing, bushfires and pesticide programs including the present Fipronil baiting programs have already caused local extinction of the Green Carpenter Bee species in Victoria and the bees are now only found in the eastern flanks of the Great Dividing Range near Sydney, and on the western part of Kangaroo Island. How can the government approve such a poisonous chemical? There are alternatives that other countries are using - we need to invest in them now.

Native Australian stingless bees are powerful pollinators and have long been referred to as a "plan bee" for crop pollination — a backstop against the loss or decline of European honey bee populations. Our bees deserve more than just being sprayed with the most toxic substances out there.

This petition calls on Tara Moriarty the NSW Minister for Agriculture to immediately ban the use of Fipronil and Murray Watt Federal Minister for Agriculture to launch a judicial enquiry into how the industry is influencing Government policy relating to bees.

Please sign this petition to support small Australian beekeepers, save the native Australian bee population and stand up against big corporations and the Government putting them at risk.