The foe is public enemy number one, the newsreel narrator declares in his clipped, almost British accent. The musical accompaniment has the same martial urgency of the newsreels that brought the war to cinemagoers for six long years. The script is also familiar. Battalions of millions lay waste to the land, despite unceasing slaughter. This is a battle that must be won.

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When the reel was shown in cinemas in 1949, the war had been over for four years. The enemy the nation was being called on to mobilise against wasn't Japan. It was the rabbit.

Australia was in the grip of its worst rabbit plague. The billion strong army of rodents - known as the "moving grey blanket" - was stripping grazing land of its vegetation, which held the soil together. The soil erosion, land degradation and destruction of crops it wrought was a national emergency.

Rabbits had become a major problem ever since 1859, when pastoralist Thomas Austin released 24 wild ones on his sprawling Barwon Park estate in Victoria to provide hunting entertainment. Seven years later, 14,000 of them were caught on the same property and the largest ever mammal invasion was under way.

Almost 90 years of shooting, trapping, poisoning and continent-spanning fencing failed to stop the spread. But in 1950, science came to the rescue when the CSIRO released the myxoma virus in 1950. The rabbit population plunged by almost 95 per cent. But it was a temporary reprieve as rabbits evolved to resist the virus.

In 1996, the calicivirus was released. It, too, brought down the rabbit population but, just as they did with myxoma, rabbits began developing immunity. Variants were developed, the last being RHDV1-K5, released in 2017. Another strain of the virus, RHDV2, was detected in Canberra in 2015. This one was not released by any government agency.

Now, the rabbit army is massing again. Where I live, the population seems to have increased exponentially over the past couple of years. Once rarely seen, they're out every morning and in growing numbers - so commonplace the dog barely raises an eyebrow when they cross our path.

It's not just me, however. The Invasive Species Council estimates there are now 200 million of them, numbers not seen since the 1990s, yet government funding for the Rabbit Biocontrol Pipeline Strategy ended in 2022. The council warns that another national environmental disaster is being locked in.

Even if funding was restored to biological rabbit control research and development today, it takes between five and 10 years to produce a new virus strain.

Rabbits work much faster. They have a short gestation period, reach sexual maturity at four months, can produce up to eight kits a litter and have up to eight litters a year. They breed like rabbits while the wheels of government turn at a glacial pace.

It might already be too late.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Have you noticed more rabbits where you live? Was it shortsighted of the Albanese government to let research funding for rabbit biocontrol lapse? Has Australia become complacent to the threat posed by rabbits? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

- Unprecedented restrictions on protests in Sydney imposed in the wake of December's Bondi Beach terror attack have been lifted.

- Jewish and Palestinian students and staff are bearing the brunt of ingrained racism at universities as institutions are chastised for failing to address hate on campus, according to a landmark report.

- A major Australian retailer forecasts 90 per cent of cigarettes will be illegally sourced within a few years unless the government reduces the tobacco excise.

THEY SAID IT: "I've come to learn that over recent years, there has been ideal rabbit breeding conditions across eastern Australia." - Michelle Crowther, City of Casey councillor

YOU SAID IT: Some former politicians don't know when to withdraw from voicing their opinions, long after they've been flushed from parliament.

"I have to disagree with your statement that a political leader's most important job was staying in power," writes Horst. "When their contribution to governing the country is no longer beneficial, they ought to go. There's value in the occasional appearance of a former party leader if he is one of the few who still have useful ideas for the current conditions. If that embarrasses the party which has dropped him, that wouldn't be bad if it caused it to reflect on the course it is taking. On the other hand, a former leader who had lost favour because he had run out of or opposed any good ideas should stay well out of public view."

David thinks most former politicians should stay out of the public discourse - with notable exceptions: " In Donald Trump's America I desperately want Barack Obama and any other former presidents (yes, even George Dubya) to speak up. Speak up, loud, clear and every day. They must. That is not being a 'floater', it is an essential duty for the world."

"What is in the past to which some are clinging is statesmen, now rare as rocking horse poo," writes Stuart. "Egos, ex staffers, seat savers and people who have never had a real job prevail. I despair."

Mick writes: "Your analogy is close to the mark but floaters eventually run out of gas, are shown up for what they are and permanently disappear. Howard, Abbott, et al come, are irritating, then disappear only to reappear every three years. I'd say they are more haemorrhoidal in nature caused by a constipated political system and verbal diarrhoea."

"There is nothing more ex than an ex," writes Adrian. "Ex politicians are at the pinnacle of the mound. They were, after all, little more than the number one minister, hence 'prime minister'. Being formers bestows no more relevance upon them in retirement that when in office. After they are ousted or retire they should take their gold card perks and fade away. Or perhaps they should have to attend their local Centrelink office and enrol for Newstart. Most were irrelevant in office, they are even less so when they are booted."

Sue writes: "You summed up the entire problem with 'clinging to the past'. It is not just the failed former leaders, it is the entire party, indeed it is the underpinning of any 'policy' our latest Liberal leader - you're right again, it is an oxymoron - has so far suggested a possibility of: a return to Australian values. Note these values are totally undefined, but the 'return' suggests 20th century, if not earlier."

"At least John Howard was a successful PM. He's been in the top job, done the yards, got the T-shirt," writes Murray. "I guess he is entitled to voice an opinion based on experience. On the other hand, the miserable ghost, Turnbull, was an unmitigated disaster. When he floats to the surface, as John colourfully describes it, it's to say something spiteful. I don't mind old politicians talking about political matters, they should be qualified, after all. But when it's just airing old grievances, I switch off."

Tony enjoys seeing John Howard trotted out but for a very different reason: "It enables the ALP to remind voters of how his government wasted the extra revenue from that mining boom on tax cuts instead of creating a sovereign wealth fund, failed to do anything on climate change, sold off the gold reserves, wasted money and lives on unwinnable wars."

"Journalist and political commentator Mungo MacCallum publicly described John Howard as an unflushable turd in 1996," writes Ian. "How true that was! Here it is 30 years later and Howard is still floating around in the bowl."

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