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The biggest thing on our election wishlist

There’s a federal election slated for May this year, and we have one word at the top of our priority list.
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There’s a federal election slated for May this year, and we have one word at the top of our priority list.

Biosecurity – the actions and measures we put in place to stop new invasive species arriving in Australia and limit the harm caused by established invaders

As an island nation, Australia has become home to a trove of unique wildlife. But that unique wildlife has also proved highly susceptible to biological invasions.

Three Australian animals have gone extinct since 2009, and a further two have been lost from the wild. Four of those five were the fault of invasive species.

Business as usual is not an option. And if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that prevention is far easier than eradication.

That’s why biosecurity that focuses on prevention and early action is at the top of our ticket for the federal election in May.

YouTube video
What is biosecurity? Costa Georgiadis of Gardening Australia is working with the NSW Government’s Mission Biosecurity program to make biosecurity a bigger part of all of our lives.

Biosecurity 2030

The Invasive Species Council, alongside major national industry, environmental and NRM groups, has called for 2021-2030 to be declared the Decade of Biodiversity.

This decade needs a stronger biosecurity system, guided by a national biosecurity strategy.

The strategy needs to bring all Australians to the table, establish sustainable long-term funding mechanisms and put biosecurity that protects the environment on an equal footing with other important areas such as agriculture.

The Invasive Species Council has been driving support for the Decade of Biosecurity and is convening a working group of government, industry and community players to plan its launch and design a program of activities.

We have also been contributing to the national biosecurity strategy as part of a small reference group. Public comments on the draft strategy close on 18 March and the strategy will be finalised at the end of March.

The CEOs from Plant Health Australia, Animal Health Australia, the Invasive Species Council and Centre for Invasive Species Solutions are keen to see Australia mobilise a 25 million strong mass biosecurity mass movement. Left to right: Sarah Corcoran, Plant Health Australia CEO; Kathleen Plowman, Animal Health Australia CEO; Andrew Cox, Invasive Species Council CEO and Andreas Glanzig, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions CEO.
The CEOs from Plant Health Australia, Animal Health Australia, the Invasive Species Council and Centre for Invasive Species Solutions are keen to see Australia mobilise a 25 million-strong mass movement for biosecurity.

The 2nd Australian Biosecurity Symposium

But the success of our biosecurity system cannot be achieved by our governments alone.

That’s why the Invasive Species Council partnered with Animal Health Australia, the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions and Plant Health Australia to run the first ever Australian Biosecurity Symposium in 2019.

Now, in 2022, the second Australian Biosecurity Symposium will finally go ahead.

Between 3-5 May, the Gold Coast event will focus on enhancing the biosecurity system, supporting science and innovation and building a mass-movement. It will be MC’d by Costa Georgiadis with keynote presentations from Dr Norman Swan, Dr Anika Molesworth and Ms Kirsten Rose.

Early bird registrations are available up to 31 March and a detailed program will be available from 21 March.

The road ahead

If we are to ever solve Australia’s biosecurity problem, it will be through coordinated efforts that stretch across environmental, political, agricultural, healthcare, social and cultural lines.

It is for that reason we implore the next Australian government, whoever they may be, to make biosecurity a top priority.

More info

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Hear from us when it matters

Your support to protect critically endangered and vulnerable species from extinction is vital. Together, we can ensure governments prioritise action on invasive species and protect our wildlife and iconic places.

The Invasive Species Council was formed in 2002 to seek stronger laws, policies and programs to protect nature from harmful pests, weeds and diseases.

The Invasive Species Council acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia and their connections to land and sea. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

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Your gift is a lifeline for nature.

Our protected areas are being trashed, trampled, choked and polluted by an onslaught of invaders. Invasive species are already the overwhelming driver of our animal extinction rate, and are expected to cause 75 of the next 100 extinctions.

But you can help to turn this around and create a wildlife revival in Australia.

From numbats to night parrots, a tax-deductible donation today can help defend our wildlife against the threat of invasive weeds, predators, and diseases.

As the only national advocacy environment group dedicated to stopping this mega threat, your gift will make a big difference.

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A silent crisis is unfolding across Australia. Every year, billions of native animals are hunted and killed by cats and foxes. Fire ants continue to spread and threaten human health. And the deadly strain of bird flu looms on the horizon. Your donation today will be used to put the invasive species threat in the media, make invasive species a government priority, ensure governments take rapid action to protect nature and our remarkable native wildlife from invasives-led extinction, death and destruction.

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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]