Today Abigail gave notice of a motion in Parliament celebrating FrogID week and recognising the important role that these sentient beings play within our environment as bioindicators.
Abigail said:
I give notice that on the next sitting day I will move:
(1) That this House notes that:
- the week from Friday 7 November to Sunday 16 November 2025 was FrogID Week, Australia’s biggest frog count that anyone with a smartphone can participate in;
- Frog ID Week is hosted annually by the Australian Museum and aims to monitor frog populations and distributions over time to help us better understand frogs and how Australia’s ecosystems are responding to a changing planet;
- using the acoustic monitoring tool in the FrogID app, anyone in Australia can record the many unique sounds and calls that frogs make, including their different ribbits, croaks, barks, whistles and bleats, to help count frogs around the country;
- in 2024, over 18,000 FrogID recordings were submitted by over 4,000 individuals, which helped record over 34,000 frogs and identify 112 species;
- in 2023, frog researchers were able to name a new frog species, the otway smooth frog, by analysing the subtle differences in the calls of closely related species using recordings submitted through FrogID;
- frogs, like other amphibians, are sentient beings capable of a range of emotions and feelings including happiness, pain, anxiety and even altruism; they have opioid receptors and nociceptors, can identify humans who bring them food as non-threatening, and can demonstrate pain avoidance learning;
- some frogs are named after the sounds they make, like the ticking frog, the quacking frog, the growling grass frog and the shoemaker frog (whose call sounds like a shoemaker’s hammer tapping into the sole of a shoe);
- frogs are known as ‘bioindicators’; they are highly sensitive to environmental changes and pollution, which has helped humans realise that healthy frog populations are an indicator of a balanced, healthy and thriving ecosystem and environment, while a decline can warn of environmental degradation;
- Australia has one of the world’s most diverse frog populations, with over 250 different unique species living in various habitats from deserts and arid inland areas to rainforests and mountains;
- frogs play an important role within ecosystems, as both crucial predators of insects and a food source for many other animals;
- frog populations in Australia are declining every year because of threats including habitat loss from land clearing, wetland drainage, the broader impacts of climate change, diseases and the use of pesticides; and
- one in five frog species are currently threatened in Australia.
(2) That this House recognises the unique and important existence of frogs within Australia’s ecosystems and environment, and encourages everyone to learn more about frogs and get involved in counting and protecting frog populations.
20 November 2025