Page 3807 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 September 2018
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preservation for generations to come. Regrettably, it appears that the New South Wales government has conveniently forgotten or, worse, dismissed these efforts.
In the ACT the Namadgi National Park feral horse management plan 2007 was developed with two objectives. One was to remove existing feral horses from our national park and the second was to reduce the need for ongoing control of feral horse numbers. This plan guides the management of wild horses today. As outlined in the plan—a plan developed more than a decade ago—if the feral horse population is permitted to grow, there will be increasing damage to sensitive ecosystems, biodiversity and our waterways.
In the 1980s we eradicated groups of feral horses from the Cotter River catchment, and in recent years the number of feral horses crossing the ACT border from neighbouring Kosciuszko National Park has been low, so low that they can be controlled by capture and euthanasia. This method is not only effective but it is more humane. Without population controls, feral horse numbers will expand to a point that their environment can no longer sustain them. Horses would not only alter the environment but they could then starve.
I want to put on the record for the benefit of members the statements from ACT parks and conservation manager Brett McNamara. He described being “gutted” when he heard about the New South Wales government’s decision. He described the legislation as “terrible”. Like all animals, horses breed and without genuine population control methods we will see the populations doubling every three years. According to Mr McNamara, we could go from a situation where we basically have no horses within our borders to hundreds.
It is absurd that we could go from having no feral horses in the ACT, and concentrating our efforts on other very real, very serious issues, like controlling pigs and feral deer, to having hundreds of feral horses entering our national parks, putting pressure on resources and distracting from these other important efforts, simply due to stupid decisions from another government.
The actions of the New South Wales government through the enactment of the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018 threaten to undermine efforts to protect our national park. This unprecedented legislation, driven by the New South Wales Deputy Premier and member for Monaro, John Barilaro, is reckless, to say the least. It flies in the face of expert evidence and advice. It has been condemned by numerous organisations, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales, the Australian Academy of Science and the National Parks Association of New South Wales. It is a decision that is so poor that one of the New South Wales government’s scientific advisers quit their job in protest.
Then there is this: just a few months ago the then federal environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, acknowledged, sensibly, that feral horses were “creating great damage” to parts of Kosciuszko National Park. Shortly after, he backflipped, approving the New South Wales government’s plan to protect these pests, saying he was confident the New South Wales strategy would ensure the management of horse numbers and
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