Page 3804 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 September 2018

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Amendment agreed to.

Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.

Administration and Procedure—Standing Committee

Membership

Motion (by Ms Cheyne) agreed to:

That Ms Cheyne be discharged from the Standing Committee on Administration and Procedure for the week of 22 October to 26 October 2018 and Ms Orr be appointed in her place.

Namadgi National Park—feral horses

MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (3.41): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) acknowledges that:

(a) the Namadgi National Park is part of the Australian Alps National Parks, a collection of protected areas along the roof of Australia in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria;

(b) Namadgi National Park protects a wide range of natural and cultural values as well as protecting 80 percent of Canberra’s drinking water source;

(c) parts of Namadgi National Park are in the alpine and sub-alpine regions or “High Country”, which crosses into NSW (Kosciuszko National Park) and Victoria (Alpine National Park);

(d) introduced pests, such as pigs, wild dogs, foxes, rabbits, goats and feral horses, freely cross State and Territory borders; and

(e) ACT Parks and Conservation Service has a long history of working collaboratively with counterparts in Victoria and NSW to control these pests, including a Cooperative Management program for the Australian Alps National Park stretching over 32 years;

(2) notes that feral horses, in particular:

(a) cause significant environmental damage, including impacting soil with their hoofs, grazing sensitive vegetation, destroying creek banks, spreading seeds and causing erosion;

(b) have been described as a key threatening process for endangered native flora and fauna;

(d) have a population which can quickly multiply unless their numbers are controlled/eradicated wherever possible;

(3) further notes that in June 2018 the New South Wales Government afforded protections to feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park through enactment of the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018 No 24 and that this legislation:

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