This from the country with one of the world’s worst records for introducing non-native species with resulting ecological damage is a bit of hypocrisy. Rabbits, cats, dogs and camels, for a start. A couple of small dogs more isn’t going to have much effect.
I understand not introducing invasive species, but don’t they already have Yorkies in Australia?
The point here is that Johnny Depp’s dogs don’t get to jump the quarantine queue just because Johnny Depp.
One law for all, celebrities notwithstanding, is a principle most Boingers should be able to get behind.
Twofold response:
a) As one of the most isolated places in the world, the ecosystem here is one of the more unique, and as such is by definition far more subject to introduced species, since most everywhere else has already been subject to the natural (and otherwise) introduction of species over millennia.
- Because all sorts of idiocy occurred in times gone by, we shouldn’t try to close the stable door?
Really? Over two dogs? Barnaby Joyce has all of the professionalism of a street thug “Bugger off”, but not quite the flair, kind of hard to take someone seriously with a name like Barnaby. Couldn’t choose more professional vocabulary. Bugger off. You’re a Prime Minister of a country Barnaby, try acting like one.
I fully support Depp and Heard. I believe it was an honest mistake that Australian politicians used to bolster their already “way too over inflated ego’s” already. Then to threaten to euthanize the dogs, although they reportedly love animals?
Now this apology. I have a cousin who is a super snob with all of the warmth of a slimy fish, no one in the family can stand her or her mother, and we often conveniently leave them out. Her ancestry is Australian. After watching this fiasco in the news, it explains quite a bit.
Couldn’t agree with you more.
Yep, but we don’t have rabies or several other diseases potentially carried by dogs - and we’d like to keep it that way. Australia has had several bio-security nightmares, as you’ve noted, sometimes self-inflicted, but we learn from our mistakes.
This just begs some parody on Saturday Night Live.
“Australia is free of many pests and diseases that are commonplace around the world such as Irishmen and people who live in Phoenix who refer to themselves as Phoenicians.”
Demoting from continent to island. That’s no way to make amends.
You still have bat rabies… it’s just a matter of time before it mutates. To koalas. Imagine rabid koalas dropping down from the trees. They are so thirsty… will the blood satiate their thirst?
I honestly thought you were talking about the British.
I can’t speak for all east Asian cultures, but the Chinese consider Australia to be a very large island which is part of Asia. They only register 6 continents on the planet, not 7.
Two talented actors deliver a forced “apology” and it seems a bit “off”, a tad disquieting?
They’re practicing their craft, says I.
That’s interesting - Today I Learned.
It’s possible for all parties to be in the wrong about it. Dogs shouldn’t have jumped quarantine, and Joyce is an inbred hick politician from a farmers party.
Credit to them, in that video Depp & Heard gave Joyce all of the respect that he is due.
As much as I want to agree with almost everything you’ve said here, for this I want to kill you.
"Australia is free of many pests and diseases that are commonplace around the world. "
I’ve gotta go now.
Snobbery is genetic?
They should’ve let the dogs in and kept Depp out. He came here once, and next thing we knew there was an outbreak of late-period Tim Burton! My child caught it, and turned all whimsical but kind of empty and more than a little disappointing.
