Chapter 7Committee view and recommendations
Overview
7.1Australia is considered internationally as a megadiverse country. It is one of the most biologically rich countries in the world. It is not surprising therefore, that when the Australian Alps was National Heritage listed in 2008, its biodiversity was described as ‘a rich and unique assemblage of cold-climate specialist species that have evolved unique physiological characteristics’.
7.2During this inquiry it has become unambiguously clear that the Australian Alps are under pressure from significant threats. Key among these is the threat posed by feral horses.
7.3Feral horse populations in parts of the Australian Alps have been allowed to expand their range and grow largely unchecked, allowing significant damage to occur and exacerbating other existing threats such as climate change.
7.4Feral horses are increasing the risk of extinction for up to a dozen highly threatened species found only in the Australian Alps. Vital habitat and food sources for protected species and ecological communities are being severely degraded by approximately 25,000 feral horses currently in the Australian Alps.
7.5Despite the listing of threatened species and ecological communities, and migratory species, at both the Commonwealth and state and territory levels, critically endangered species are under genuine threat from the continued presence of feral horses at an unprecedented scale.
7.6The committee acknowledges differing views on estimates of feral horse population numbers in Kosciusko National Park (KNP) and the Australian Alps more broadly, however notes that best-practice scientific methodology clearly shows a worrying upwards trend over the past decade.
7.7This chapter draws together the committee’s view on key themes raised through the inquiry, and makes several recommendations.
Strong need for coordination and cooperation
7.8The successful implementation of a plan to remove feral horses from the Australian Alps National Heritage place depends on the cooperation of the Commonwealth, state and territory governments. All jurisdictions will need to coordinate control methods and align their targets to ensure that this shared landscape is protected.
7.9Both the ACT and Victoria are impacted by the limitations of the NSW Government to address the increasing and spreading feral horse population in KNP.
7.10The committee notes the limitations of currently available management methods used in NSW and Victoria (including ground shooting by skilled professional shooters, capture and rehoming, and euthanasia when rehoming is not available). These limitations relate to the inaccessibility of significant sections of the alps as well as the lack of suitable rehoming placements. Animal welfare concerns were also raised regarding trapping and transportation prior to rehoming. These limitations have resulted in the significant increase in the feral horse population and range across KNP and the northern parts of the Victorian alps.
7.11The committee acknowledges that the humane feral horse management approaches of the ACT Government allow the ACT to focus on critical nature restoration work and to protect the ACT’s key drinking water supply. Similarly, the committee notes the challenges faced by Victoria in managing feral horse populations in difficult terrain, and with incursions from NSW, and commends it for the protection of Bogong High Plains through active and humane management.
7.12The committee observes that there is an inherent and undeniable tension between the Australian Government listing of the Australian Alps for National Heritage protection, and the NSW Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018. The objectives of the NSW Kosciuszko Management Plan for feral horses presents a paradox—namely, that feral horses and the heritage values of the national park they occupy cannot both be protected.
7.13Feral horses occupy national park land at the expense of other plant and animal species. This means that protection of the threat as well as the threatened species is not possible. This tension underlies the inconsistency between the threatened species protections under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and its rejection of feral horses having heritage values, and the NSW legislation which directly contradicts this.
7.14The committee notes that over the past decade, the Commonwealth has not played an active role in the management of the Australian Alps, despite Commonwealth legislation and international obligations.
7.15The committee considers that it is not currently possible for both the EPBC Act and the NSW Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018 (NSW Wild Horse Heritage Act) to be complied with. The EPBC Act does not recognise feral horses as having heritage value, and the Commonwealth considers them a threat under the novel biota key threatening process. Conversely, the NSW Wild Horse Heritage Act recognises the heritage value of feral horses within the KNP. In concurrence with the views of the scientific contributors to this inquiry, the committee supports the welfare and ongoing existence of Australian native threatened species and ecological communities being prioritised over invasive species.
7.16The committee considers that there may be an issue relating to the constitutional validity of the NSW Wild Horse Heritage Act to the extent it is inconsistent with the EPBC Act. Noting that the Australian Government already has constitutional advice on the matter, the committee also urges the NSW Government to seek expert legal advice regarding the validity of the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018.
New South Wales’ legislative constraints
7.17The NSW Government’s Kosciuszko Management Plan is actively at cross purposes not only with its own legislation, but with the other state and territory who share the responsibility of protecting the Australian Alps. The Kosciuszko Management Plan sets out that 32 per cent of the national park is a feral horse retention area. This same area includes habitat for threatened species and ecological communities, and areas of First Nations cultural significance. Significant sphagnum bogs and associated fens also occur within this area, as does a migratory species protected under international obligations.
7.18The committee considers the approach taken by the former NSW Government to be inconsistent. Under separate NSW laws, feral horses are simultaneously protected and considered a threat. There is an irreconcilable inconsistency in applying management actions required by the listing of feral horses as a Key Threatening Process under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act, and the protection owed to threatened species under the NSW Assets of Intergenerational Significance framework (enabled by the National Parks and Wildlife Act), while at the same time enforcing the NSW Wild Horse Heritage Act.
7.19The NSW Government is now required, through its own legislation, to implement conservation action plans for species that the NSW Government is endangering through the retention of feral horses in parts of KNP. This will make it difficult for the NSW Government to find a pathway to achieve its statutory reduction targets.
7.20The committee notes the Final Report of the Independent Review of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act, released in August 2023, conducted by Dr Ken Henry. This review found that the NSW Biodiversity Act is unlikely to ever achieve its objectives, and is not meeting its primary purpose. The review stated that biodiversity across NSW is at risk from a range of environmental disturbances, including that:
Feral animals are competing with native wildlife for resources, overgrazing native plants, and preying on native animals.
7.21The review also asserted that the Act’s ‘objectives lack primacy, being undermined by a range of other legislation’, and recommended that the act ‘have primacy over competing pieces of legislation’.
7.22The committee agrees with Dr Henry’s assessment of the NSW Government’s environmental legislation.
The need for stronger Commonwealth leadership
7.23Former Commonwealth Environment Ministers have had minimal engagement to address the impact of feral horses in the Australian Alps, in respect of the area being listed as a National Heritage place. While the committee notes the legislative constraints placed on the Commonwealth to directly intervene in NSW, evidence provided shows that there are other levers to allow the appropriate and necessary protection of the Alps environment.
7.24The new Minister for the Environment and Water has agreed with the Samuel Review of the EPBC Act that ‘Australia’s environment laws are broken’. Long‑awaited reform to the EPBC Act is coming, and the Threatened Species Action Plan has set the goal of no new extinctions.
7.25A more focused approach to the Australian Alps is needed, in order to first stop the degradation caused by feral horses, and then to repair and regenerate the environment.
7.26The committee is encouraged by the recent reinvigoration of the Australian Alps Liaison Committee (AALC) and Ministerial Council as fora for the Commonwealth to work cooperatively with the states and territory, as well as an avenue to set expectations for the proper protection of the Australian Alps National Heritage place. This is an important step to reset the relationship across the four relevant jurisdictions.
7.27The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water, stated in correspondence to the committee that the re-establishment of the Ministerial Council would allow the Commonwealth to work collaboratively with the states and territories on this matter. Minister Plibersek also stated that she ‘want[s] feral horses removed from the Australian Alps as much as anyone. They damage our fragile alpine and sub-alpine ecosystems.’
The Commonwealth’s international obligations
7.28Australia’s international obligations in relation to the Australian Alps may not be being met. Article 8 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), relating to in-situ conservation, is provided for under the National Heritage provisions of the EPBC Act. This legally-binding international treaty obliges Australia to control or eradicate alien species which threaten ecosystems, habitats or species. Feral horses directly impact twelve Australian Alp animal species that are threatened with extinction. While the Australian Government is responsible for upholding Australia’s international obligations, previous administrations appear to have failed to act adequately.
7.29Similarly, the Latham’s Snipe is a listed migratory species which spends part of each year in the horse retention area of KNP. Australia has three bilateral agreements with Japan, China and the Republic of Korea which provide for the protection of this species and its environment. The agreement with Korea, for example, specifically sets out that the Australian Government will ‘endeavour to take measures to control the impact of invasive animals and plants on the conservation of such birds and their environment’.
Committee comment and recommendations
National leadership to manage feral horses
A national feral horse population assessment
7.30The committee is concerned that the national population estimates for feral horses are more than a decade old. This is particularly important given the compounding population growth rate, which can double every five years. In order to lead a coordinated national effort, the Australian Government needs to understand the current population across Australia, to be developed in collaboration with states and territories.
7.31The Committee recommends that the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, in collaboration with its state and territory counterparts, undertake an impact and population assessment of feral horses at the national level.
List feral horses as a Key Threatening Process
7.32The committee heard that the existing Key Threatening Process for Novel Biota is too general to allow for targeted action to control feral horses. The Australian Government should address this weakness as part of broader reforms to the EPBC Act.
7.33The committee considers that, after urgently addressing the limitations of the current novel biota key threatening process, the Commonwealth Environment Minister list feral horses as a Key Threatening Process, alongside other invasive species in the Alps such as feral deer and pigs, leading to the implementation of a Threat Abatement Plan.
7.34Through this process, the Commonwealth Environment Minister should consider what other avenues within the EPBC Act would assist in facilitating an urgent, coordinated approach to managing feral horses and protecting national heritage values.
7.35The Committee recommends that the Minister for Environment and Water list habitat degradation, competition and disease transmission by feral horses as a Key Threatening Process under the Environment Biodiversity and Conservation Act1999.
7.36The Committee recommends that, after the Key Threatening Process is in place, the Minister for the Environment issue a Threat Abatement Plan as soon as is practicable, in order to reduce the threat of feral horses in the Australian Alps.
Protection of headwaters
7.37The Australian Alps are home to the headwaters of the Murrumbidgee, Snowy and part of the Murray River. These rivers provide high-quality water to the Murray-Darling Basin worth nearly $10 billion per annum. Feral horses cause damage by increasing erosion, which leads to turbidity, which can greatly affect local and downstream water quality. Studies outside the Alps region have shown turbidity levels at up to 50 times the national guidelines.
7.38The presence of high populations of feral horses will continue to cause damage to our precious waterways. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has the ability to measure, monitor and record the condition of water-dependent ecosystems that use the Basin’s water resources, and in the case of the Hume Reservoir’s catchment, to take effective measures to protect against erosion.
7.39The Committee recommends that in partnership with the states and territory, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority undertake work to measure, monitor and record the quality of Basin water resources in and flowing from the Australian Alps, with particular reference to the impact of feral horses.
7.40The Committee recommends that in partnership with the states and territory, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority undertake an immediate assessment of the condition of the catchment of the Hume Reservoir, with particular reference to the impact of feral horses.
Australian Alps National Heritage listing
7.41The committee heard that the Commonwealth’s ability to regulate National Heritage listed places is limited when the individual parks and nature reserves are on state land. This potentially frustrates the functioning of the listing, particularly if there is disagreement between the state government—the land manager—and the Commonwealth, which is responsible for the National Heritage listing.
7.42The EPBC Act's National Heritage provisions only allow the Commonwealth to use its ‘best endeavours’ to facilitate cooperation with the states and territories in the formulation of management plans where National Heritage listed places are on state or territory land. States and territories should ensure that they comply with the management principles for National Heritage listed places.
7.43The listing of a National Heritage place, the listing of threatened species and ecological communities, and the listing of migratory species for protection, should result in land managers taking concerted active steps to prevent further degradation. The committee heard that a failure of jurisdictions to act in line with a National Heritage listing has put national heritage values at risk. The Commonwealth should consider mandating an obligation for action within the scope of the large-scale EPBC reform that is underway.
7.44The Committee recommends that the Australian Government take a lead role to achieve cooperation between state and territory governments in the formulation of management plans for National Heritage listed places, including in the Australian Alps National Heritage place. The Australian Government should establish agreed mechanisms to resolve disputes between jurisdictions to ensure that National Heritage values are being protected.
7.45The management principles for National Heritage listed places, as set out in the EPBC Regulations, do not reflect the Australian Government’s international obligations. These include the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), the Ramsar Convention, and bilateral agreements to protect migratory species. The management principles should clearly refer to the need to uphold international obligations.
7.46The Committee recommends that the EPBC Regulations, which set out the management principles for National Heritage listed places, be amended to include reference to international obligations.
7.47The committee notes that the Australian Government is currently working towards aligning the strategic plan for the Convention on Biological Diversity (known as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework) with the Strategy for Nature 2019–2030. This work is set to be completed by the middle of 2024.
7.48The committee considers that this should be enshrined in the EPBC Act’s National Heritage provisions, alongside the Convention on Biological Diversity, in order to underscore the significance of Australia’s international obligations in this regard.
7.49The Committee recommends that the National Heritage provisions of the EPBC Act be amended to include that regard must be given towards Target 6 as adopted in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
7.50The committee is concerned that, as the population of feral horses grows by 15 to 20 per cent per year, their increasing impacts on EPBC Act-listed species is not being measured. The committee urges the Australian Government to undertake monitoring the numbers of critically endangered species such as Southern and Northern Corroboree Frogs and Stocky Galaxias.
Recommendation 9
7.51The Committee recommends that the Australian Government commission urgent monitoring to assess the current status of EPBC Act-listed species, ecological communities and migratory species in the Australian Alps.
7.52Further, the Australian Government should work with the NSW, Victorian and ACT governments to urgently implement recovery plans to better protect critically endangered species such as the Stocky Galaxias and Southern Corroboree Frog.
7.53The Australian Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032 has set an ambitious goal of no new extinctions, and the Australian Alps have been designated as a priority place. Priority species also identified in the plan, which are found within the Australian Alps, include the Southern Corroboree Frog, Mountain Pygmy-possum and Stocky Galaxias. In the committee’s view, the Commonwealth has both an international obligation and a domestic commitment that requires it to co-invest in the protection of native species in the Australian Alps, including through management of their key threats. Based on evidence to the inquiry, the level of co-investment required would be modest.
7.54In order to achieve this worthy and necessary goal, the Australian Government should provide adequate co-funding to the land manager governments for the Australian Alps National Heritage listed place.
7.55The committee’s view is that the Australian Government should urgently provide a significant boost in funding to NSW, Victoria and the ACT in order to facilitate effective management of feral horses in line with best practice and following strict humane conditions. The Commonwealth has a coordination role to play as this is a National Heritage listed place, protected under the EPBC Act.
7.56This co-funding should be reviewed by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water after two financial years, with the remaining to be delivered subject to the completion of agreed project milestones.
7.57The Committee recommends that the Australian Government increase funding to the states and territory, who are the primary land managers of the Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves, to enable them to ensure National Heritage values are upheld and threatened species are protected from extinction.
7.58The committee notes that Parks Victoria has encouraged the use of the FeralScan website and apps to log sightings of invasive species, although feral horses are not currently included. This website is partly funded by the Commonwealth and the NSW Government. The committee considers that this facility could be expanded to include feral horse sightings and damage to be recorded, uploaded and provided to biosecurity and pest management agencies.
7.59The committee notes that the vast majority of submissions received were from individuals who are frequent visitors to the Australian Alps, or who have a connection with the area, who are concerned at the damage they have seen. An expanded FeralScan data collection service would allow these individuals to contribute to the improvement of the Alpine region and assist agencies with targeted monitoring and reduction.
7.60The Committee recommends that the Australian Government expand its partnership with FeralScan to develop a platform for the monitoring and logging of feral horses.
7.61The committee notes the range of population management techniques provided by witnesses, and acknowledges views that the exclusion of aerial shooting from NSW’s Kosciuszko Management Plan has created limitations to adequate feral horse management. Given the urgency of the task at hand, with El Niño conditions underway, and the imminent threat of extinction faced by several critically endangered species, the committee believes all management options should be available to the states and territory to allow feral horse management in accordance with the best science and humane practice.
7.62The Committee recommends that the NSW Government update the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow the use of aerial shooting as one of the available feral horse control methods if deemed appropriate under strict safety, scientific and humane practices.
Impact on Indigenous cultural heritage
7.63Indigenous inquiry participants explained that feral horses, with their recent connection to Australian culture, have been given primacy over the area’s long-standing Indigenous cultural heritage and deep connection to the area. Sites which were traditionally used for ceremonies and gatherings are now too impacted by feral horses to continue those uses.
7.64Indigenous people should be the primary source of information on the value of their heritage, and should be involved in the identification, assessment and management of these sites, according to the National Heritage management principles. The committee questions whether this is occurring to a satisfactory level, given the evidence heard during the inquiry.
7.65First Nations knowledge should be provided through bodies such as the Australian Alps Liaison Committee.
7.66The Committee recommends that the Australian Alps Liaison Committee membership include Indigenous representation, to ensure that Indigenous knowledge and culture is properly considered at each stage of its processes.
7.67The committee acknowledges the dedicated work of national parks staff—as rangers, pest managers, visitor service staff, administrative support staff, and a variety of other roles—contributing to the care for our precious national parks and nature reserves. Maintaining our national parks is a very significant job, and the committee heard that staff have performed their roles while at times enduring abusive threats and harassment from certain members of the broader pro-brumby network.
7.68The committee heard that digital stalking, abuse via social media, and other forms of threatening behaviour are taking place, and reiterates that this behaviour is criminal. Everyone has the right to feel safe in their workplace, no matter where their workplace is or what their work requires of them.
7.69The committee agrees that the safety of frontline staff in national parks should also be urgently reviewed by the Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves land manager governments.
Recommendation 14
7.70The Committee recommends that the NSW, Victoria and ACT Governments urgently review the safety of staff working in and around national parks, and work with local law enforcement agencies to ensure that staff are properly protected in their workplaces.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Chair