Top six on the Richter scale
1 December, 2014
A ‘top six on the richter scale’ list of high priority threats to the environment provided to the Senate biosecurity inquiry begs many more questions than it answers.
A ‘top six on the richter scale’ list of high priority threats to the environment provided to the Senate biosecurity inquiry begs many more questions than it answers.
The evidence provided to the Senate inquiry has demonstrated that Australia’s biosecurity system is failing in multiple ways to prevent the arrival of harmful new invaders. Here we summarise the highlights of the public hearings.
The Invasive Species Council recently tested how easy it is to buy prohibited weeds online, and found quarantine seriously wanting.
The Senate inquiry on environmental biosecurity has been useful for revealing gaping holes in Australia’s preparation for new invasive species and flushed out the views of government about our proposal for a dedicated body to prepare for invasive species.
The NSW primary industries minister threatened to use biosecurity laws to prosecute animal activists. Animal activists just as much as farmers and other members of the community need to use good biosecurity practices.
Technology giant Hewlett-Packard has made an embarrassing gaff in its latest Australian marketing campaign by encouraging people to help a young boy find his pet iguana, Ralph.
The high rate of new environmental incursions detected since 2000 suggests Australia has not yet learnt from the past. The Invasive Species Council’s submission highlights the lessons that should be learned.
These extracts from some of the 83 submissions to the Senate inquiry reveal systemic failure in our environmental biosecurity systems and support for many of the issues raised by the Invasive Species Council.
As feral horse numbers grow in the Australian Alps in the absence of an effective control program, so too is concern about the escalating damage.
The Invasive Species Council has long argued for the need for a permitted list approach for plants. Here botanist Bob Parsons explains how the current regulatory system favours the spread of the invasive cushion plants.
The Senate is looking at how to better protect Australia from new invasive species. Use this guide to join our calls for stronger biosecurity to protect our precious natural environmental from yet more invasive species. Late submissions due 22 August.
Decisions on imports are likely to be biased by trade considerations while they are made by the head of the agricultural department.
Our new threatened species commissioner, Gregory Andrews, has already put a foot in the right direction by announcing that tackling feral cats will be high on his agenda.
The Australian Senate has set up an inquiry to look into how we can prevent the arrival into Australia of new invasive species impacting on the environment.
In a speech to Parliament, Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon referred favourably to a presentation by Invasive Species Council CEO, Andrew Cox. He also suggested that there should be a federal Minister for Biosecurity.
A ‘top six on the richter scale’ list of high priority threats to the environment provided to the Senate biosecurity inquiry begs many more questions than it answers.
The evidence provided to the Senate inquiry has demonstrated that Australia’s biosecurity system is failing in multiple ways to prevent the arrival of harmful new invaders. Here we summarise the highlights of the public hearings.
The Invasive Species Council recently tested how easy it is to buy prohibited weeds online, and found quarantine seriously wanting.
The Senate inquiry on environmental biosecurity has been useful for revealing gaping holes in Australia’s preparation for new invasive species and flushed out the views of government about our proposal for a dedicated body to prepare for invasive species.
The NSW primary industries minister threatened to use biosecurity laws to prosecute animal activists. Animal activists just as much as farmers and other members of the community need to use good biosecurity practices.
Technology giant Hewlett-Packard has made an embarrassing gaff in its latest Australian marketing campaign by encouraging people to help a young boy find his pet iguana, Ralph.
The high rate of new environmental incursions detected since 2000 suggests Australia has not yet learnt from the past. The Invasive Species Council’s submission highlights the lessons that should be learned.
These extracts from some of the 83 submissions to the Senate inquiry reveal systemic failure in our environmental biosecurity systems and support for many of the issues raised by the Invasive Species Council.
As feral horse numbers grow in the Australian Alps in the absence of an effective control program, so too is concern about the escalating damage.
The Invasive Species Council has long argued for the need for a permitted list approach for plants. Here botanist Bob Parsons explains how the current regulatory system favours the spread of the invasive cushion plants.
The Senate is looking at how to better protect Australia from new invasive species. Use this guide to join our calls for stronger biosecurity to protect our precious natural environmental from yet more invasive species. Late submissions due 22 August.
Decisions on imports are likely to be biased by trade considerations while they are made by the head of the agricultural department.
Our new threatened species commissioner, Gregory Andrews, has already put a foot in the right direction by announcing that tackling feral cats will be high on his agenda.
The Australian Senate has set up an inquiry to look into how we can prevent the arrival into Australia of new invasive species impacting on the environment.
In a speech to Parliament, Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon referred favourably to a presentation by Invasive Species Council CEO, Andrew Cox. He also suggested that there should be a federal Minister for Biosecurity.
A ‘top six on the richter scale’ list of high priority threats to the environment provided to the Senate biosecurity inquiry begs many more questions than it answers.
The evidence provided to the Senate inquiry has demonstrated that Australia’s biosecurity system is failing in multiple ways to prevent the arrival of harmful new invaders. Here we summarise the highlights of the public hearings.
The Invasive Species Council recently tested how easy it is to buy prohibited weeds online, and found quarantine seriously wanting.
The Senate inquiry on environmental biosecurity has been useful for revealing gaping holes in Australia’s preparation for new invasive species and flushed out the views of government about our proposal for a dedicated body to prepare for invasive species.
The NSW primary industries minister threatened to use biosecurity laws to prosecute animal activists. Animal activists just as much as farmers and other members of the community need to use good biosecurity practices.
Technology giant Hewlett-Packard has made an embarrassing gaff in its latest Australian marketing campaign by encouraging people to help a young boy find his pet iguana, Ralph.
The high rate of new environmental incursions detected since 2000 suggests Australia has not yet learnt from the past. The Invasive Species Council’s submission highlights the lessons that should be learned.
These extracts from some of the 83 submissions to the Senate inquiry reveal systemic failure in our environmental biosecurity systems and support for many of the issues raised by the Invasive Species Council.
As feral horse numbers grow in the Australian Alps in the absence of an effective control program, so too is concern about the escalating damage.
The Invasive Species Council has long argued for the need for a permitted list approach for plants. Here botanist Bob Parsons explains how the current regulatory system favours the spread of the invasive cushion plants.
The Senate is looking at how to better protect Australia from new invasive species. Use this guide to join our calls for stronger biosecurity to protect our precious natural environmental from yet more invasive species. Late submissions due 22 August.
Decisions on imports are likely to be biased by trade considerations while they are made by the head of the agricultural department.
Our new threatened species commissioner, Gregory Andrews, has already put a foot in the right direction by announcing that tackling feral cats will be high on his agenda.
The Australian Senate has set up an inquiry to look into how we can prevent the arrival into Australia of new invasive species impacting on the environment.
In a speech to Parliament, Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon referred favourably to a presentation by Invasive Species Council CEO, Andrew Cox. He also suggested that there should be a federal Minister for Biosecurity.
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The Invasive Species Council was formed in 2002 to seek stronger laws, policies and programs to protect nature from harmful pests, weeds and diseases.
The Invasive Species Council acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia and their connections to land and sea. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
Dear Project Team,
[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.]
I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.
The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.
The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.
This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.
Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.
Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.
Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.
I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.
Dear Project Team,
[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.]
I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.
The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.
The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.
This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.
Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.
Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.
Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.
I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.