Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

There are no wild brumbies in Hasluck. We do, however, have a really fine equestrian community, including being home to the State Equestrian Centre, Yarrada Farm Riding School and Magic Millions. I grew up in York surrounded by animals, including horses, which I deeply love. When people see brumbies in our alpine regions, they don't just see an introduced species or a feral problem. They see a symbol, a piece of folklore and a connection to our history. Put simply, people care about the feral horses in a way that they might not care about foxes, rabbits or pigs. Our relationship with the horse goes back thousands of years and is inextricably interwoven with civilisation itself. Nonetheless, we must acknowledge that the unmanaged feral horse populations are causing significant environmental damage in some of our most fragile ecosystems. Alpine peatlands, waterways and native species habitats are being degraded. These are places that simply cannot withstand that level of pressure. So, yes, action is required. Doing nothing is not an option, but how we act matters just as much as whether we act at all. I do not support the use of aerial culling from helicopters, and we cannot ask Australians to accept a solution that is fundamentally viewed as inhumane. There are alternatives, and we should be pursuing them with seriousness and urgency.

Fertility control measures used successfully in places like the United States offer long-term population management without resorting to lethal methods. These programs use a vaccine known as PZP that is delivered to the mares, often by remote darting, and works by preventing fertilisation without affecting the animal's natural hormones or behaviour. It doesn't remove the horses from the landscape, and it doesn't break up the herds. It simply slows population growth over time by reducing the numbers of foals born each season.

Programs in parts of the US have demonstrated that, when applied consistently to a sufficient proportion of mares, fertility control can significantly reduce birth rates and help stabilise populations in a humane and non-lethal way. It's not a silver bullet, and it does require effort, coordination and a long-term investment, but it shows that there are practical models that put animal welfare at the centre of population management. There are also ground based culling approaches that, where necessary, can be conducted under stricter welfare conditions and oversight, significantly reducing the distress associated with aerial methods.

This is a complex challenge. It does require coordination. We must protect our national parks, but we must do it in a way that reflects who we are so that 'a final glimpse reveals, on a dim and distant hillside, the wild horses racing yet with the man of the Snowy River at their heels'.