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Budget offers little relief for Victorians facing growing invasive species threats

Victoria’s natural environment will suffer and communities will be left to bear the cost of worsening invasive species threats after the state budget entrenched cuts to frontline roles and failed to deliver meaningful new investment in pest control.

The Invasive Species Council says the budget locks in last year’s reductions to biosecurity and environmental programs, while offering little relief to communities already dealing with the growing impacts of feral animals and weeds.

‘Victoria is missing the mark on investment in invasive species control – and our environment, our communities and our businesses will pay the price,’ Invasive Species Council Victorian Conservation Advocate John Kelly said. 

‘This budget entrenches cuts to frontline services and biosecurity roles and leaves communities to carry the bulk of invasive species management on their own.

‘We’re already seeing this play out with feral deer. Landholders and communities are facing spiralling costs from one of the most destructive invasive species in our environment.

‘It’s deeply concerning there is no new funding for feral deer control, despite the scale of damage they are causing across Victoria.

‘Overall funding for the environment department has fallen by $535 million compared to last year’s actual spending, with Parks Victoria also seeing a reduction in its allocation.

‘The only new pest-related funding is $2.2 million for the fox bounty program – the same amount allocated to the entire Vertebrate Species Management Program, which targets multiple high-impact species.

‘There is funding for biosecurity incursions like avian influenza and Varroa mite, but this does little to offset earlier cuts to biosecurity roles.

‘There is also no new funding for Landcare facilitators, meaning community groups on the frontline will be stretched even further.

‘I’ve spoken to people who have lost millions of dollars – and in some cases their entire livelihoods – because feral deer have destroyed crops and properties year after year.

‘And yet we have the absurd situation in Victoria where feral deer are still legally protected, instead of protecting communities from the damage they cause.

‘We need to get serious about invasive species – investing in frontline roles, backing coordinated control programs and giving communities the support they need to protect what matters.’

Media inquiries: (02) 8006 5004

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    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.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    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.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]