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NSW audit calls for improved biosecurity responses

An audit report looking at NSW biosecurity responses and compliance released this week reveals that NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has been found wanting.
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An audit report looking at NSW biosecurity responses and compliance released this week reveals that NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has been found wanting.

“NSW DPI needs to lift its game in how the department leads the state’s biosecurity system,” said Invasive Species Council CEO, Andrew Cox.

The NSW Audit Office review assessed the effectiveness and cost of DPI’s biosecurity emergency response and prevention work. DPI’s compliance program is a key prevention activity.

The NSW Auditor-General made six key findings and six recommendations.

“While NSW runs a relatively good biosecurity system by Australian standards, its systems have serious gaps.

“Improvements are needs in the areas of data collection and analysis, environmental and community biosecurity, formal partnerships, risk management and emergency response reviews.

“When it comes to national responses, there are clear systems in place. This is not so for state initiated responses. The decision to mount a response is ad-hoc and opaque and roles are not formally defined.

“A biosecurity response is important to get right since it may be the only chance to stop a new pest or disease establishing in the state. NSW successfully eradicated red fire ants from Port Botany in 2014, potentially avoiding billions of dollars in costs.

“Compliance is a critical tool to ensure that everybody plays their part in stopping the spread of weeds, pests and diseases.”

The review recommended that formal arrangements be put in place for biosecurity responses and compliance.  This was reinforced by a 2017 national biosecurity review that called for all state governments to institute formal arrangements between agriculture and environment agencies (IGAB review, rec 7).

“As a priority, formal arrangements are needed between NSW DPI and the environmental arms of government including the former OEH, EPA and NPWS.

“The audit report highlighted problems with the agricultural focus of DPI by finding that the environment is not fully integrated into the biosecurity system.

“The review found that DPI does not have compliance policies that address the environment and does not directly address emerging risks to the environment and community amenity.

“An important finding was that NSW DPI does not consistently analyse its data and apply lessons from emergency responses.  The system would also benefit from greater transparency.

“The review called for increased use of cost-benefit studies before mounting a response. DPI’s policy in this area needs to be reviewed. For many responses, like yellow crazy ants, the case for action is clear. There is no need for a cost-benefit study before proceeding.

“However, there are many other new arrivals where there is no action, and as the audit finds, DPI does not analyse the impact of these decisions.

“We welcome the review recommendation that DPI “publish annual data on performance targets and outcomes for its biosecurity compliance and emergency response activities.”

“Oversight of the state’s biosecurity system could also be improved by re-establishing the NSW biosecurity advisory committee, which was disbanded in 2018.

“We are pleased that NSW DPI accepted the auditor’s recommendations and is committed to improving its risk assessment procedures,” said Mr Cox.

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    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]