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Coalition and cross bench combine to send controversial Shooters Bill to inquiry after late-night vote

A narrow late-night vote in the NSW Upper House (20-19) has ensured the Minns Government’s controversial deal with the Shooters Party will now be scrutinised through a parliamentary inquiry.

‘Late on budget night, the Minns Government tried to sneak through a Bill to set up a new propaganda unit for hunters and turn our state forests into game parks as part of a deal with the Shooters Party,’ Invasive Species Council CEO Jack Gough said. 

‘Thankfully, the Coalition, combining with the crossbench, came together to send the proposal to the inquiry. This will finally allow the public and stakeholders to scrutinise this dodgy deal and make sure that politics isn’t allowed to undermine good feral animal management in the state. 

‘It is disappointing that the NSW government already announced in yesterday’s budget that they will fund the proposed Hunting Authority before the Bill establishing it had even passed parliament. I hope that this inquiry will mean that ultimately that money is no longer wasted but is instead redirected to effective, professional control programs using aerial shooting.

‘Sadly, our 2 million hectares of State Forests have been allowed to become breeding grounds for feral animals, with little to no government control taking place. The proposed Bill will lock in that mismanagement forever.

‘It is no surprise the Shooters Party wants to set up a taxpayer-funded propaganda arm for the hunting lobby to push misinformation and undermine science-based feral animal control.

‘However, I would have thought that Labor would have learnt their lesson after the dodgy Game Council they set up in a previous deal with the Shooters Party went up in flames.

‘Giving the Shooters Party a publicly funded mouthpiece to spread misinformation is a dangerous precedent. It will see decisions driven by lobbying power, not biosecurity risk or environmental need.

‘Once again, we’re seeing an attempt to entrench hunting access on public land, without regard for the damage done to native wildlife or the integrity of professional control programs. 

‘We know from bitter experience what happens when hunter interests are put ahead of expert advice – it’s exactly why the Game Council was abolished in the first place.

‘This Bill puts politics before conservation, ideology before evidence and lobbyists before the public good. It’s a recipe for failure, and the NSW government should not be complicit in it.’

The inquiry will report back by 10 October.

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]