Nillumbik Council moves to ban barbed wire in fences to protect wildlife

Victorian farmers fear a push to ban the use of barbed wire to protect wildlife is misguided and will set a dangerous precedent.

A barbed-wire ban would make it almost impossible to run cattle in large parts of Australia.

Farmers in one of outer Melbourne’s green wedge zones are facing a ban on using barbed wire and glyphosate.

Nillumbik Council is proposing a barbed-wire ban, as, the council said, it was “known to have a significant impact on the welfare of wildlife, often inflicting injury on animals when they come into contact with barbed wire fencing”.

The council also wants to restrict “glyphosates and other harmful chemicals and/or prohibit the sale of glyphosates within the municipality”.

Greens Councillor Ben Ramcharan said it was “quite obvious” why the barbed-wire ban was needed, due to its potential impact on wildlife, “I’ve been doing research into this”.

Pro Active Landholders (PALS) member Karen Egan, who is one of only two rural councillors, said the “bambi syndrome” of suburbia dominated council.

Ms Egan said she’d received photos from animal activists campaigning for the ban depicting kangaroos caught up in fences, without them even understanding there was no barbed wire involved.

“I’ve been a wildlife carer for 10 years, but none of the roos that came in had been caught up in barbed wire,” she said. “The vitriol of these dark green groups is huge.”

Victorian Farmers Federation Livestock Group president Steve Harrison said the lobby group would be lodging a submission to council on what he called “a ludicrous proposal”.

“We don’t want this to become a precedent that others follow,” Mr Harrison said.

Local farmer Max Parsons said it wasn’t the first time Nillumbik Council had tried to ban barbed wire.

In 2016 Mr Parsons fought and won a battle in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to stop the council introducing planning amendments that not only banned barbed wire, but dictated how fences were built and even forced them to fence off all waterways.

Mr Parsons said council had since been moving by stealth, forcing anyone who wanted to build on their rural blocks to sign Section 173 agreements, whereby they would not use barbed wire and ensure that the bottom strand up to half a metre off the ground.

Nillumbik Mayor Peter Perkins failed to respond to The Weekly Times calls and messages.

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