National biosecurity reform agenda
17 July, 2026
The signatories to this submission appreciate the willingness of DAFF and the National Biosecurity Committee to engage with us at
A range of submissions to a wide range of government inquiries into weeds, pest animals and environmental diseases in Australia.
The signatories to this submission appreciate the willingness of DAFF and the National Biosecurity Committee to engage with us at
The Invasive Species Council welcomes the opportunity to comment on the exposure draft of the National Environmental Standard (Matters of
The Invasive Species Council welcomes the opportunity to comment on Tasmania’s draft Cat Management in Tasmania discussion paper. Tasmania’s current
The Invasive Species Council welcomes the opportunity to comment on Tasmania’s draft Threatened Species Strategy. While it provides a high-level
The Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) is one of Australia’s most ecologically and economically significant regions. Stretching across 4 states and one
The 2026 Victorian fires – which tragically claimed one life, burned over 400,000 hectares, and destroyed 900 buildings, including at
Invasive species are a leading cause of biodiversity loss and species extinction in Australia and cost an estimated $25 billion
The recent EPBC Act reforms failed to address a threat which has caused more Australian animal extinctions than any other
Australia is overrun by invasive species that hunt, trample, disease and outcompete native wildlife. They degrade ecosystems, erode Indigenous culture,
This submission is in response to the invitation by the Tasmanian Government to providecomments on the discussion paper provided regarding
Some of Australia’s most precious places are imperilled by inaction on threatening processes. For example, the corals reefs of the
Offsets have generally failed to compensate for environmental damage not otherwise avoided or mitigated. But done well, offsets can present
In this submission we raise the question of whether Karenia mikimotoi – or the strain causing the algalbloom in South
The NSW Parliament should reject the Game and Feral Animal Legislation Amendment(Conservation Hunting) Bill 2025 for the following reasons:
Invasive vertebrates are the biggest driver of animal extinctions in Australia and imperil more than 500 threatened species while causing
In economic terms – if biodiversity and the natural environmental were accorded appropriate value as national assets and essential infrastructure
The NSW government proposes to open 39 new State Forests to hunting for 10 years. The NSW Game Council justifies
Environmental offsets are widely regarded as licences for destruction. We advocate measures to ensure that proposed offsets (to compensate for
There are major deficiencies in current invasive species policies and programs that will inevitably result in further declines in biodiversity,
ISC supports the proposed Regulation to reclassify the status of various exotic animals based on risk assessments by the Vertebrates
We have compiled evidence of threats to 18 species and ecological communities to support the listing of ‘Herbivory and environmental
Weeds represent one of the biggest gaps in environmental laws. In a joint submission with other environment NGOs, ISC supports
ISC supports and advocates the strengthening of recommendations of the 10-year Hawke review of the EPBC Act to improve approaches
We have compiled evidence of threats to 28 species and ecological communities to support the listing of ‘Ecosystem degradation, habitat
We advocate a ‘permittled list’ approach to weeds, which permits the introduction of non-indigenous plants only after a risk assessment
This strategy fails to provide a clear basis for effective action to conserve biodiversity and should therefore be redrafted to:
There is strong evidence that escaped garden plants are having a major adverse impact on Australia’s biodiversity, including threatened species
Along with land clearing and climate change, invasive species are one of the top three threats to Australia’s biodiversity. And
The draft management strategy for hog deer in Victoria proposes goals and strategies that are anathema to best practice management
The Invasive Species Council supports the analysis contained in the draft submission and strongly recommends against allowing the import of
Submitted: March 2018
National environmental biosecurity roundtables were held in 2016 and 2017. A set of eight recommendations are offered to maximise the value of roundtables for participants and to deepen the relationship between government and the community and environmental sector.
Submitted: February 2018
The Invasive Species Council provides feedback on the draft statement that was circulated for public comment at the national biosecurity roundtable and the environmental biosecurity roundtable meetings in November 2017.
Submitted: January 2018
Comments on the exposure draft of the Biosecurity Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2017. The proposed changes are fully supported.
Submitted: August 2017
The work of the Invasive Species Council has been widely recognised by governments and the community and strongly opposes any requirement for DGR registered groups to undertake expenditure on environmental remediation. This proposed measure is extremely inefficient, illogical and disruptive and would have an extremely detrimental impact on our work.
Submitted: July 2017
A joint submission to the draft Queensland Biosecurity Strategy 2017-22 by the Invasive Species Council, Queensland Conservation Council and Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. The strategy is broadly endorsed but argues for a greater emphasis on environmental biosecurity and recognition of the limited capacity of the conservation sector.
Submitted: June 2017This submission highlights the need to prioritise prevention and early detection and expresses support for a response model based on risk. It also encourages measures that are not be dependent on quantitative or financial assessment benefits.
Submitted: June 2017
This submission to the draft Tasmanian biosecurity legislation provides 25 recommendations ranging from suggestions that in environmental biosecurity matters the Environment Minister be consulted through to requiring a general biosecurity duty.
Submitted: March 2017
This submission seeks the automatic triggering of NEBRA for priority organisms, majority instead of consensus decision-making, an emergency response fund, meaningful involvement of environmental stakeholders and environment departments, increased transparency, application of the precautionary principle and removal of the requirement for eradications to be cost beneficial.
Submitted: February 2017
The independent review of Australia’s biosecurity recognises that environmental biosecurity needs greater attention. This submission endorsed by 21 other conservation organisations supports the major initiatives relating to environmental biosecurity and improved research, transparency and community engagement.
Submitted: February 2017
This submission to the draft regulations to the NSW Biosecurity Act 2016 rejects the regulations since they appear to merely transition existing management practices to the new legislation without a review of measures to reduce environmental biosecurity risks.
Submitted: December 2016
A joint submission by the Invasive Species Council and the Tasmanian Conservation Trust to the Tasmanian government Future Directions statement: Future Direction for a new Contemporary Biosecurity Legislative Framework.
Submitted: September 2016
Due to their rising numbers and effect on natural ecosystems, deer are the most important emerging vertebrate pest in eastern Australia. Recreational hunting generally provides little or no benefit to feral animal control. Volunteer shooting can assist feral animal control in a limited number of circumstances.
Submitted: August 2016
The goal of the draft wild horse management plan for Kosciuszko National Park to set a 20-year target to drastically reduce feral horse numbers is supported, but the prospect of the plan succeeding is limited because the plan prohibits the use of aerial shooting as a control method.
Submitted: July 2016
The submission urges greater attention to environmental biosecurity, structural changes to the operation of the National Biosecurity Committee, the greater use of science-based decision making, the application of the precautionary principle and more timely decision-making and funding for environmental biosecurity interventions.
Submitted: May 2016
A joint submission that largely supports the draft report and recommendations. In particular the submission supports the proposal to declare deer as a pest animal.
Our protected areas are being trashed, trampled, choked and polluted by an onslaught of invaders. Invasive species are already the overwhelming driver of our animal extinction rate, and are expected to cause 75 of the next 100 extinctions.
But you can help to turn this around and create a wildlife revival in Australia.
From numbats to night parrots, a tax-deductible donation today can help defend our wildlife against the threat of invasive weeds, predators, and diseases.
As the only national advocacy environment group dedicated to stopping this mega threat, your gift will make a big difference.
A silent crisis is unfolding across Australia. Every year, billions of native animals are hunted and killed by cats and foxes. Fire ants continue to spread and threaten human health. And the deadly strain of bird flu looms on the horizon. Your donation today will be used to put the invasive species threat in the media, make invasive species a government priority, ensure governments take rapid action to protect nature and our remarkable native wildlife from invasives-led extinction, death and destruction.
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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.
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.