The particular specimens that I am referring to were not smuggled out of Australia and into the United States, which is often the case with most Australian reptiles that have ended up in collections around the world. There is a way to export legally, but only for non-commercial reasons. I have the permits and fees on file on my computer! Is there anyone here that was alive and keeping reptiles before Australia closed it's boarders to import/export back in the 1970's? Would it be possible that certain species were exported legally back in those years and continued on with breeding somewhere else in the world? It is true that there are a lot of Australian reptiles being produced here in large numbers, but what about tiger snakes, inland taipans, central ranges taipan, coastal taipans, eastern browns, western browns, red belly black snakes, collette's black snakes, and all of the other Australian elapids that many of us have wanted to keep in our collections?
gillsy: What is there to disagree with? I simply made a suggestion, a new idea. You mentioned that you are not allowed to commercially breed reptles in NSW. That is why I suggested that groups of herpers get together to help change those laws. Here in the USA, we have a group called USARK. They just fought a python ban and won!
reptillife: If you don't believe that reptiles are being taken from the wild in tremendous numbers in Australia right now by collectors, than you aren't being very realistic. Australia is the reptile mecca of the world. There are probably hundreds of foreigners that travel to Australia every year just to collect reptiles to smuggle them out.
steve1: There isn't really a "need" in a true sense of the word. I was told several months ago by a local Australian herpetologist, that Australia is going through rough economic times, as is the case in the USA. The reptile trade alone could fix that! Ok not really, but it could certainly help. Any time a company makes their business international, it's usually because they are going to make more money and I believe that if you started breeding reptiles in captivity for commercial export than Australia as a nation would see prosperous times (not implying that you don't already).
gillsy: Again, how would "EXPORTING" captive born reptiles have any negative effect on Australia's ecosystem, wild populations, quarantine, disease control, etc? Australia has nothing to lose by doing this. They have everything to gain. It's not "all" about money, but money has a lot to do with it. Serious profits could be made. It might put smugglers out of business or it might put them in business, but I can tell you one thing for sure...the smugglers will be there anyways!
Forget about importing exotics into Australia. Now let's go back to my original point which is EXPORT. As far as exporting is concerned with Australia's wildlife, it wouldn't do any damage. It's a simple equation. Breed snakes+Export snakes=money. This post has taken a huge twist from my original first post. (Yes I started this post). You got into a heated debate about exotic animals wreaking havoc on your wildlife like it's a new thing. That happens in every country in the world. You already have introduced species and animals are still coming in whether its legal or not. Why not legalize the commercial export of reptiles and start breeding reptiles to make money and export them?