THANK YOU FOR TELLING THE SENATE TO TAKE ACTION ON FIRE ANTS

This is all the information you need to make your submission.

How to help  |  Take action

Thank you for choosing to write a submission to the inquiry into red imported fire ants in Australia.

You don’t have to be an expert or have lots of time to do this. We know personalised submissions are the most effective, so we’ve included some tips below to help you get started.

Step 1: Create a new email and address it to: rrat.sen@aph.gov.au

Step 2: Add the subject line: Red Imported Fire Ants in Australia Submission

Step 3: Copy and paste the draft submission below into the body of your email.

Step 4: Amend the draft submission to personalise it – include why fire ants in Australia are a concern to you, and what action you would like to see taken. We’ve added some suggested recommendations in the draft submission to help you.

Step 5: Hit send and feel good about doing your bit!

We realise this is different to other submission campaigns you may have seen – that’s because sending an email from your own email address has a greater impact.

Thank you!

 


 

Some things to remember:

  • Keep it short and focus on the issue.
  • Make it personal – why do fire ants in Australia concern you?
  • Be respectful.


 

Draft submission (COPY AND PASTE THIS INTO THE BODY OF YOUR EMAIL AND THEN MAKE CHANGES TO PERSONALISE IT)

Dear Committee Secretary,

Please accept this submission to the Senate’s inquiry into Red Imported Fire Ants.

As an Australian I am very concerned about the spread of fire ants in Australia and want our governments to do everything possible to eradicate them.

[This space is for a short introduction. Share why you’ve decided to write a submission to the Red Imported Fire Ant Inquiry today].

[This space is for you to share what concerns you about fire ants in Australia].

[This space is for the action you’d like to see taken by the Australian and state and territory governments to tackle the issue of fire ants in Australia. Some points you might like to raise include:

  • The federal, state and territory governments should invest enough now to fully eradicate fire ants and avoid huge costs later.
  • Governments should not be worried about overinvesting in success. This could be Australia’s last chance to be a fire ant free country and previous efforts have all been insufficient.
  • Funding should take into account the society-wide impacts of fire ants, including their effects on human health, worker safety, social amenity and sports and construction and trade – not just agricultural and environmental impacts.
  • Any requests by the national program for increased funding to achieve eradication should be promptly agreed to by governments so that delay doesn’t risk failure.
  • Community education and surveillance should be ramped up to ensure all fire ant nests are found.]

Kind Regards,
First Name, Last Name,
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]


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]