Sustainable biosecurity funding yet to target worst risk-creators
10 May, 2023
The federal budget has taken important steps, but more work is needed to ensure key sectors are paying for the biosecurity risks they create.
The federal budget has taken important steps, but more work is needed to ensure key sectors are paying for the biosecurity risks they create.
In the leadup to the federal budget a new report from Frontier Economics has highlighted the range of funding measures the Australian government could deploy to strengthen
The Invasive Species Council is calling on the Australian Government to urgently prepare for the potential arrival of a deadly bird flu known as HPAI H5.
While COVID has been spreading around the world, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has also been spreading.
Invasive Species Council CEO Andrew Cox reflects on a recent visit to the first ever outbreak of red fire ants on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).
With the NSW election just weeks away, where do the major parties stand on ensuring funding and policies to manage feral horses, deer, weeds, cats and other invasive species are top priorities for NSW? Here are highlights from our work on the ground as of 8 March.
The agricultural and environmental biosecurity office has had budgets slashed, biosecurity funding is on the table, the National Biosecurity Strategy is moving forward, and the Decade of Biosecurity has a new national coordinator.
In mid-September, in response to allegations aired by a shock-jock on Sydney radio, the NSW environment minister announced a ban on all shooting operations in Kosciuszko National Park.
Australia has an urgent invasive species problem. Invasive species pose the greatest threat to our native plants and animals – even greater than climate change.
A visit to New Zealand is to witness a growing movement targeting the killing of pest animals and the excitement in seeing the return of birds and their songs.
The founding partners of the Biosecurity Collective welcome today’s release of Australia’s first National Biosecurity Strategy, which marks the start of transformative change to the Australian biosecurity system.
Our breakdown of the very worst and very best parts of the country’s biggest environment report in five years.
In August 2021, a member of the public noticed some troubling symptoms on their maple tree in East Fremantle.
Varroa mites were detected in two of six sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, NSW, on 22 June. As of the latest official update on 27 July, there are now 43 known infested premises across central-eastern and north-eastern NSW.
Today’s announcement of a NSW Government $32.9 million investment in biosecurity for Lord Howe will ensure the island stays rodent free.
The federal budget has taken important steps, but more work is needed to ensure key sectors are paying for the biosecurity risks they create.
In the leadup to the federal budget a new report from Frontier Economics has highlighted the range of funding measures the Australian government could deploy to strengthen
The Invasive Species Council is calling on the Australian Government to urgently prepare for the potential arrival of a deadly bird flu known as HPAI H5.
While COVID has been spreading around the world, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has also been spreading.
Invasive Species Council CEO Andrew Cox reflects on a recent visit to the first ever outbreak of red fire ants on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).
With the NSW election just weeks away, where do the major parties stand on ensuring funding and policies to manage feral horses, deer, weeds, cats and other invasive species are top priorities for NSW? Here are highlights from our work on the ground as of 8 March.
The agricultural and environmental biosecurity office has had budgets slashed, biosecurity funding is on the table, the National Biosecurity Strategy is moving forward, and the Decade of Biosecurity has a new national coordinator.
In mid-September, in response to allegations aired by a shock-jock on Sydney radio, the NSW environment minister announced a ban on all shooting operations in Kosciuszko National Park.
Australia has an urgent invasive species problem. Invasive species pose the greatest threat to our native plants and animals – even greater than climate change.
A visit to New Zealand is to witness a growing movement targeting the killing of pest animals and the excitement in seeing the return of birds and their songs.
The founding partners of the Biosecurity Collective welcome today’s release of Australia’s first National Biosecurity Strategy, which marks the start of transformative change to the Australian biosecurity system.
Our breakdown of the very worst and very best parts of the country’s biggest environment report in five years.
In August 2021, a member of the public noticed some troubling symptoms on their maple tree in East Fremantle.
Varroa mites were detected in two of six sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, NSW, on 22 June. As of the latest official update on 27 July, there are now 43 known infested premises across central-eastern and north-eastern NSW.
Today’s announcement of a NSW Government $32.9 million investment in biosecurity for Lord Howe will ensure the island stays rodent free.
The federal budget has taken important steps, but more work is needed to ensure key sectors are paying for the biosecurity risks they create.
In the leadup to the federal budget a new report from Frontier Economics has highlighted the range of funding measures the Australian government could deploy to strengthen
The Invasive Species Council is calling on the Australian Government to urgently prepare for the potential arrival of a deadly bird flu known as HPAI H5.
While COVID has been spreading around the world, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has also been spreading.
Invasive Species Council CEO Andrew Cox reflects on a recent visit to the first ever outbreak of red fire ants on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).
With the NSW election just weeks away, where do the major parties stand on ensuring funding and policies to manage feral horses, deer, weeds, cats and other invasive species are top priorities for NSW? Here are highlights from our work on the ground as of 8 March.
The agricultural and environmental biosecurity office has had budgets slashed, biosecurity funding is on the table, the National Biosecurity Strategy is moving forward, and the Decade of Biosecurity has a new national coordinator.
In mid-September, in response to allegations aired by a shock-jock on Sydney radio, the NSW environment minister announced a ban on all shooting operations in Kosciuszko National Park.
Australia has an urgent invasive species problem. Invasive species pose the greatest threat to our native plants and animals – even greater than climate change.
A visit to New Zealand is to witness a growing movement targeting the killing of pest animals and the excitement in seeing the return of birds and their songs.
The founding partners of the Biosecurity Collective welcome today’s release of Australia’s first National Biosecurity Strategy, which marks the start of transformative change to the Australian biosecurity system.
Our breakdown of the very worst and very best parts of the country’s biggest environment report in five years.
In August 2021, a member of the public noticed some troubling symptoms on their maple tree in East Fremantle.
Varroa mites were detected in two of six sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, NSW, on 22 June. As of the latest official update on 27 July, there are now 43 known infested premises across central-eastern and north-eastern NSW.
Today’s announcement of a NSW Government $32.9 million investment in biosecurity for Lord Howe will ensure the island stays rodent free.
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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.
