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NSW $100 million biosecurity funding boost welcomed

The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the announcement of $100 million in new biosecurity funding in the NSW Budget – calling it a vital investment in the state’s ability to respond to rising invasive species threats. 

The Council says the new money and the commitment to the ‘development of a new, sustainable and integrated biosecurity model’ is an important step forward to improve a system which is currently underfunded and generally ad hoc.

‘This is important leadership from Minister Moriarty and appears to be a strong signal that the NSW government is taking seriously the need to overhaul the current approach to biosecurity – and backing it with new funding, not just recycled dollars,’ Invasive Species Council CEO Jack Gough said. 

‘Stopping new invaders and managing existing threats is one of the state’s most important and difficult jobs – and this, as the largest ever NSW biosecurity budget, is a significant step forward.

‘This announcement puts NSW on a stronger footing – but must be just the first step in changing a system which is currently massively underfunded, unstrategic and ad hoc.

‘We’re especially pleased to see a strong focus on research. This funding can kickstart much-needed innovations to help protect wildlife and agriculture. We look forward to more detail on how this investment will be allocated.

‘We will be looking closely at the structure of this new funding once further details are released, because a short-term sugar hit is not going to achieve significant impact. We need long term, stable and scaled up investment in biosecurity, rather than the one year funding hits which have previously been announced by governments of all stripes.

‘Programs like the NSW Weed Action Program and established pest animal control are the bread and butter of invasive species management. They keep long-term threats in check and prevent new ones from getting worse. They need to shift from one-year funding models to 4 or 5 year funding sustainability.

‘We’re also keen to see substantial funding for implementing the recommendations of the Natural Resources Commission to boost coordination and action on feral animal and weed management. These efforts need to be scaled up alongside prevention, emergency responses and research.’

Media inquiries: (02) 8006 5004

Photos and other multimedia to accompany this story are available here.

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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]