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Invasive Species Council welcomes NSW Opposition’s invasive species funding commitment

The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the NSW Opposition’s proposed $300 million investment in invasive species management, saying regional communities will be looking for all political parties to put forward serious plans to tackle one of the state’s biggest environmental and agricultural challenges ahead of the next election.

Invasive Species Council CEO Jack Gough said invasive species management should not be a partisan issue and welcomed the growing focus on long-term reform.

‘Communities across NSW are increasingly seeing the impacts of invasive species on farms, waterways, native wildlife and local economies, and they will rightly expect all political parties to bring forward serious policies and funding commitments ahead of the election.

‘For too long invasive species management has suffered from short-term funding, fragmented programs and a lack of strategic coordination. It’s encouraging to see invasive species becoming a bigger part of the election conversation.

‘Invasive species are the number one driver of animal extinctions in Australia and one of the greatest threats to Aussie rivers and landscapes.

‘Numerous reviews have found that pest management in NSW is unstrategic, short-term and underfunded. This needs urgent change.

‘This $300 million boost is a serious proposal that means more boots on the ground and eyes in the field dealing with this worsening problem.

‘The proposal to increase the legal expectations on public land managers for feral animals is also an important recognition that many crown land managers are failing to protect the environment and communities from feral animals.

‘Whether it’s feral pigs, deer, foxes, cats or emerging biosecurity threats, invasive species don’t care who is in government. What matters is whether governments are prepared to commit the resources needed to get on top of them.

‘We’ll be looking closely at the upcoming NSW Budget to see whether the Minns Government backs its own commitment to reform.

‘The government has already made some positive moves by supporting the establishment of a State Biosecurity Committee, progressing a statewide compliance function and backing key recommendations from the Natural Resources Commission review.

‘Those reforms are important and welcome, but the missing piece remains long-term investment. Strategy and coordination only work if they’re matched with the resources needed to deliver results on the ground.

‘The Natural Resources Commission was clear that NSW needs a dedicated five-year invasive species investment program, stronger regional coordination and a more strategic approach to invasive animal management.

‘What regional communities, farmers and conservationists need now is confidence that governments of all political persuasions are prepared to make the long-term investments required to tackle invasive species at the scale of the problem.’

Background

  • The NSW Coalition has announced a proposed $300 million invasive species management package ahead of the next state election. 
  • The package includes increased funding for feral animal control programs, expanded aerial shooting, additional trapping and baiting programs, thermal imaging and drone technology, regional rapid response teams and investment in research into new control methods.
  • The proposal would also increase legal obligations on public land managers to control feral animals across the lands they manage.
  • The NSW Natural Resources Commission review found invasive species management in NSW was too reactive, fragmented and poorly coordinated.
  • The NSW Government has accepted key NRC recommendations in principle, including a five-year invasive species investment program, dedicated regional coordination roles, improved statewide planning and stronger compliance functions.
  • The Invasive Species Council has consistently called for long-term, strategic funding for invasive species management across NSW.
  • Invasive species are the leading driver of animal extinctions in Australia and impose major costs on agriculture, biodiversity and regional communities.

Photo: Trish Punch.

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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]