NSW mouse plague 2021: $50m funding announced to help rural communities

A $50m package has been announced to help rural communities fighting a mice plague of epic proportions that is destroying lives and livelihoods in NSW.

A $50 million package has been announced for farmers in NSW fighting the mice plague.

The scheme will provide free chemical poison baits as well as rebates for businesses and households affected by the animals.

The state’s regional areas have been inundated with millions of rodents, destroying crops and grain. There have been reports of mice infesting hospitals and nibbling patients hands and feet.

Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said the package will include free grain treatment that would prevent the rodents from eating the crop.

Mice eat through seed on a farm in The Riverina, southwestern NSW.

“They (farmers) will turn up to a number of treatment facilities co-ordinated by local services in the most heavily hit areas – we are just working that out now but there will be anywhere between eight and 10 of the facilities dotted around,” he told 2GB.

“The government will also take over control of sourcing the poison. We have also put in an emergency request with the commonwealth government to seek approval for a new position which is currently outlawed in Australia. It is the strongest mouse poison we can get anywhere on the face of the earth.

The newly sourced poison will kill the rodents in 24 hours compared to the current zinc phosphate poison which kills mice in three days.

The poison still needs to be approved by the Australian Pesticides and Medicine Authority

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Roy Barwon said he welcomed the funding but blasted the government over their slow response to the plague.

“The NSW Government waited for far too long to make this announcement, some communities in Barwon have been battling mice for over 9 months, whole crops have been destroyed, businesses have lost millions, and people have been bitten sleep,” he said.

“The constant battle against mice in homes, businesses, hospitals, and on farm has taken huge mental toll on our communities.

“The Government has sat by and done nothing until now. The public pressure became too great this week, they were forced to act.”

Lockie Roberts holds up a mouse on his farm Mumblepeg in the Dubbo region of NSW. The citrus farmer has been battling a mouse plague that has infested his oat shed. Picture: David Swift

There will also be $500 rebates for households and $1,000 rebates for businesses affected by the mice.

Matthew Madden, the chair of the NSW Farmers ­Association’s grains committee, said last month there had been an “extraordinary amount of damage” to stored fodder such as hay across the state’s central west.

“It’s costing hundreds of thousands of dollars for particular individuals, and fodder like hay is hard to replace.

“They made it in the good times for the bad times, like upcoming drought,” he said.

The total damage bill for farmers across the state will run into hundreds of millions of dollars.