This inquiry lapsed at the end of the 45th Parliament. On 23 July 2019, the Senate agreed to the committee's recommendation that this inquiry be re-adopted in the 46th Parliament. 

• Information about the re-adopted inquiry (46th Parliament)

This is an archived webpage that is no longer updated.

On 18 September 2018, the Senate referred to the Environment and Communications References Committee for inquiry and report by the second sitting Wednesday in February 2019:

The impact of feral deer, pigs and goats in Australia, and national priorities to prevent the problems worsening for the natural environment, community and farmers, including: 

1. the current and potential occurrence of feral deer, pigs and goats across Australia; 
2. the likely and potential biosecurity risks and impacts of feral deer, pigs and goats on the environment, agriculture, community safety and other values; 
3. the effectiveness of current state and national laws, policies and practices in limiting spread and mitigating impacts of feral deer, pigs and goats; 
4. the efficacy and welfare implications of currently available control and containment tools and methods, and the potential for new control and containment tools and methods; 
5. priority research questions; 
6. the benefits of developing and fully implementing national threat abatement plans for feral deer, pigs and goats; and 
7. any other related matters.

The closing date for submissions is 2 November 2018.

On 12 February 2019, the Senate granted an extension of time to report until ​17 September 2019​.