PLANS FOR HUNTING IN NSW NATIONAL PARKS CHANGED

Background

In May 2012 the NSW Government of Premier Barry O'Farrell announced it would be allowing recreational hunting in 34 of the state's National Parks, 31 Nature Reserves and 14 State Conservation Reserves. (The CVCC's initial comments on the proposal in an earlier post.)

The Premier's backflip from his pre-election promise that his government would not allow recreational hunting in the state's national parks system was part of a deal to get the minority Shooters and Fishers Party members (Robert Brown and Robert Borsak) in the Legislative Council to support further electricity privatisation.  The Government's spin machine claimed this would be a win for the national parks system because it would make much more effective the eradication of pest species such as foxes and pigs in the parks.

Implementation Difficulties

Those who value the state's reserve system were outraged by the sleazy deal and have since campaigned vigorously to have it overturned.  In addition to this opposition the government has been beset by a number of problems in trying to implement their deal.  There have been studies clearly expressing concerns about public safety and the safety of park workers and the NSW Game Council came under investigation for governance issues.

Dunn Report on NSW Game Council

The report on the review of the Game Council ( Dunn Review Report ) was so damning that the NSW Government has declared it will implement the report's key recommendations.  These are:

    Disband the Game Council
    Transfer the regulatory, enforcement, education, policy and licensing functions to the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI); and
    Establish an advisory Game Board that will undertake stakeholder engagement and advocacy.

Furthermore, it has suspended hunting in all 400 State Forests and on Crown Lands pending the transfer of functions to the DPI and the outcome of a risk assessment.

Just how effective the DPI will be in ensuring that hunting on community land is conducted according to the rules remains to be seen.

The New Hunting Plan

In addition to the changes outlined above the Government has recently announced a revised plan for allowing recreational hunters in national parks.  There's a new name for the hunting deal – Supplementary Pest Control.  In a letter sent out to those who have written to or emailed the Government about their concerns,  Environment Minister Robyn Parker and Primary Minister Katrina Hodgkinson have outlined the scheme to have "volunteer" hunters assisting National Parks staff in pest eradication activities in a trial in 12 parks and reserves beginning in October. According to these ministers the new program follows "a rigorous risk assessment process and expert advice" and will give the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) "additional volunteer resources to ensure pest animals are removed from the landscape".

Details of the plan as described in the Ministers' letter are below.

The program will operate under the strictest controls in Australia:

·         The program will be regulated and managed by NPWS.

·         To participate, volunteers will need to have the equivalent skill, experience and accreditation of our professional NPWS staff and contractors.

·         All pest control activities will be scheduled and carefully managed by NPWS.

·         All pest control activities will be announced in advance. NPWS will provide notification four weeks in advance and final confirmation to park neighbours and the public a minimum of 48 hours ahead of any activities.

·         Areas will be closed to visitors on the days of these pest control activities, with appropriate signage and road closures in place.

·         No person under 18 will be allowed to participate.

·         Bows and black powder muskets will be banned.

·         The program will not occur during school holidays.

·         The program will not occur in metropolitan parks and wilderness or World Heritage areas.

Eventually the program may be made available in up to 75 parks and reserves – less than 10 per cent of the total number within NSW. The majority of these parks will be in the State’s west where ground shooting is routinely undertaken for pest control on both public and private property.

(Extract from form letter from Robyn Parker, MP, Minister for the Environment and Katrina Hodgkinson MP, Minister for Primary Industries, dated 12 July 2013.)

A Few Comments

While this is certainly an improvement on the Government's initial "open slather" approach to giving the Shooters and Fishers everything they wanted, there are still serious concerns. 

    How thorough will the accreditation process be?
    Will the NPWS be adequately funded to operate the program without its management impacting on other NPWS activities and responsibilities?
     Which parks/reserves will be involved in the trial?
     How long will the trial run?
     How transparent will the review of the trial be?  It is significant that there is no reference to the program being abandoned and recreational hunters being denied access to the National Parks Estate if the review indicates there are serious problems with the program.

A TALE OF FOXES AND HEN HOUSES

Is the NSW Game Council a fit and proper body to issue licences for recreational hunters to hunt in National Parks?

Last year the NSW Premier, Barry O'Farrell, made a deal with the two Shooters and Fishers Party representatives in the Legislative Council in order to gain their support for his government's  power privatisation bill.  Payment for the deal was opening up 79 of the state's national parks/nature reserves to recreational hunters.  The spin put on this sleazy deal  (in which O'Farrell blatantly broke an election promise) was that these shooters would be doing the community and the environment a service as they would be helping eradicate feral animals in the national parks estate.  See the CVCC post of 30th May 2012

The Game Council of NSW, which is partly funded from the public purse and is the tool of the state's hunting lobby will be responsible for licensing those who hunt in the 79 national parks/reserves when O'Farrell's deal comes into operation in March this year.

On 23^rd January the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the Acting Chief Executive of the Game Council, Greg McFarland, had been suspended a few days earlier following a complaint about illegal hunting and trespass and inhumane killing of a feral goat in the central west of the state.  Herald article of 23rd January

The alleged incident which occurred on 28^th December was being investigated by police.

In a report a few days later (28^th January) the Herald gave an update saying that the Game Council had also referred the incident to police.  Herald report of 28th January 2013   Presumably they decided it was politic to do so because they knew it had already been referred to the police by the landholder where the trespass occurred. 

Comments by the Game Council about the matter suggest it is both arrogant (scarcely surprising given the kow-towing of the government to its minions) and has an overweening sense of entitlement.  According to the Herald, the Council's Chairman, John Mumford,"has called the matter an 'unfounded smear campaign' by Fairfax Media."  Not content with that dubious statement, the Council "said the allegations were leaked to discredit the council after it had been thrust into the spotlight over its impending role in licensing hunters when 79 of the state's national parks are opened to shooting on March 1."

Is it too much to hope that the NSW Premier and his government are wondering if they are on the right track in, firstly, opening up national parks to recreational hunters and, secondly, having the Game Council licensing the hunters ? 

O'Farrell and his government need to reflect on the wisdom of letting the fox look after the hen house.

NSW GAME COUNCIL SPREADS MISINFORMATION

In a Media Release issued on 13^th June, the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) has accused the Game Council, a publicly funded NSW statutory authority, of spreading misinformation about hunting in National Parks.

This Media Release is quoted in full below.

The North East Forest Alliance has expressed outrage that the NSW Game Council is undertaking a misinformation campaign targeting local governments, such as Coffs Harbour and Lismore Councils, that are considering their positions in relation to amateur hunting in national parks.  NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh has accused the Game Council of acting as if it is a branch of the Shooters Party.

"The Game Council is a publicly funded NSW statutory authority, subject to the control and direction of the Minister for Primary Industries.  It is outrageous for the Game Council to provide selective and erroneous information to local government and their Minister, Katrina Hodgkinson, must pull them into line.

"In 2010 the Game Council was described by its ex-CEO, David Dixon as 'a deeply flawed, quasi-public gift to the Shooters Party, compromised by hunting factions, jobs for hunters, dominant personalities and profound and unsolvable conflicts of interests'." (Sydney Morning Herald 19.6.10)

"The Game Council is telling local government that hunting occurs in National Parks in Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania.  This is wrong as both Tasmania and South Australia prohibit recreational hunting in national parks.  Some other conservation tenures, such as game reserves, allow game hunting, though even then feral animal control is undertaken by the land managers.

"In Victoria, seasonal deer hunting for Sambar deer is allowed in parts of only four national parks, and game hunting for duck, quail and deer in a few other types of reserves.   Hunting for feral animals is limited to the small and remote Lake Albacutya Park in the Wimmera, where it is not considered very successful.

"Other Australian states do not allow feral animal control by amateur shooters in national parks because it is not an efficient or effective method of control, and puts other users at risk. Premier O'Farrell needs to reconsider his rash decision to allow amateur hunting in NSW's national parks.

"The Game Council also claims hunting safely occurs in New Zealand parks, though in 2010 a woman brushing her teeth in a popular bush camping ground was mistaken by a hunter for a deer or possum and shot dead. There have been 25 hunting related deaths in Australia in the past decade.

"The Game Council has an annual budget of $3.8 million.  While a third of this is funded by the licenses, $2.5 million comes directly from NSW taxpayers.

"The Game Council licenses amateur hunters to use firearms, dogs, and bows to hunt in 400 State forests and Crown land areas.  In the12 months to 30 April 2012 the Council estimated licensed hunters took 15,663 animals, mostly rabbits, from public land.

"This represents a public expenditure of $159 per feral animal killed on public lands.

"Despite the Game Council being established in 2002 there has not been any assessment of the effectiveness of recreational hunting in controlling feral animals in a single State Forest.

"Taking a few animals out of a population will have no significant impact, and can even be counterproductive to other control methods if it disperses pests or makes them more wary. Hunters have also been implicated in the spread of deer and feral pigs so that they can hunt closer to home.

"There are already prioritised and systematic feral animal control programmes in place for our national parks.  Diverting the limited resources available for feral animal control into running safaris for amateur shooters will make control far less effective and efficient.

"We welcome Lismore Council's decision to oppose shooting in national parks, despite the efforts of the Game Council"  Mr Pugh said.