Environment Minister Sussan Ley warns NSW of federal intervention on brumbies

Sussan Ley has warned the NSW government she is considering intervening to force the state to tackle the ballooning wild horse population. 

Environment Minister Sussan Ley. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley has warned the NSW government she is considering intervening to force the state to tackle the ballooning wild horse population causing ecological damage in heritage-listed Kosciuszko National Park.

In a sternly-worded letter to NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean, Ms Ley said she was considering using provisions in the federal environment act to require the state government to take “specific action on feral horses”, stressing it had a responsibility to act to curtail the damage brumbies cause to the ecosystem.

It could force NSW – the only jurisdiction where the aerial culling of wild horses in national parks is banned – to take further action to reduce the numbers of brumbies in the national park to a more sustainable level.

“I consider the NSW government is currently failing in its obligations to protect the National Heritage values of the Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves National Heritage Place,” Ms Ley wrote.

“The Australian government is considering the development of regulations under the Act that oblige protected area managers to take specific action on feral horses, including the responsible, evidence-based, and humane reduction and management of populations.”

The first aerial survey since the catastrophic 2019 and 2020 bushfires revealed earlier this year that there were an estimated 14,000 horses in Kosciuszko National Park. Twenty years ago, the number was about 1500. An Australian Alps feral horse aerial survey conducted between 2014 to 2019 showed that the horse population in the park was increasing by about 20 per cent per year.

The NSW government is currently removing brumbies from the national park using trapping and rehoming methods with private owners. But according to the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, about one-third of feral horses trapped in the park between July last year and April have been released back into the wild, mainly heavily pregnant mares or foals.

Ms Ley, whose regional electorate of Farrer hugs the ridge line of Mount Kosciuszko, has previously advocated for a reduction of the horse population in the park.

“This increased number of feral horses has significantly damaged the heritage and biodiversity values of the park, particularly in nationally significant ecological communities such as the Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens, as well as associated fauna like the critically endangered Southern Corroboree Frog,” Ms Ley said.

She said the NSW government’s draft wild horses management plan, which is due to be released in coming weeks, was an opportunity to “reset the approach to management of feral horses” in Kosciuszko National Park. The plan will consider how to reduce the population to a sustainable level.

“The Australian government considers it is critical that this plan has sufficient ambition to meaningfully protect the biodiversity and heritage values of the park and in turn the Australian Alps,” she said.

The ACT and Victorian government permit shooting of brumbies to reduce populations, but NSW’s legislation prevents aerial culling of horses in national parks.

Wild horses’ trampling of ecosystems in Australia’s Alpine region erodes waterways, destroys habits of endangered species and compounds the environmental damage from the recent bushfires.

Invasive Species Council chief executive Andrew Cox said Ms Ley was standing up for her “national obligation” and described the potential intervention as “extremely timely.”

“She is highlighting that NSW must come into line and stop letting the park be ruined through mismanagement,” he said.

Mr Kean said NSW would release its draft Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Management Plan for public consultation “soon”.

“The plan will outline how we intend to protect the ecological values of the park by reducing the impact of wild horses, while also acknowledging their heritage value,” he said.

“Our latest count estimates the population of wild horses in the park is 14,000. A number that is almost universally accepted as too many.”