Australia has become a “global laughing stock” after the New South Wales parliament passed legislation to protect the heritage of feral horses in the Kosciuszko national park, environment groups say.

The Berejiklian government, with support from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party and the Christian Democrats, passed the Kosciuszko wild horse heritage bill 2018 through the NSW Legislative Council late on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Dave Watson, a professor of ecology, resigned from the NSW government’s threatened species scientific committee, which provides scientific advice on protecting threatened species.

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In a letter to NSW environment minister, Gabrielle Upton, he said: “Clearly our advice has been ignored and I can no longer continue to justify committing my time, energy and professional insight.”

He wrote that the committee had approved a draft determination in April that would list feral horses as a key threatening process.

“The wilful disregard that you and your government colleagues have for science diminishes our collective future, relegating our precious national parks and priceless environment to political play things,” he wrote.

The bill has attracted widespread criticism from the conservation and science communities and former managers of the NSW national parks and wildlife service for prioritising an invasive species over native and threatened species.

“The NSW government crossed a line last night when it passed legislation to protect destructive feral horses at the expense of one of Australia’s most iconic national parks and the threatened species it protects,” the Invasive Species Council’s chief executive, Andrew Cox, said on Thursday.

Cox said in passing the bill, the parliament had “turned Australia into a global laughing stock” and locked in the ongoing degradation of precious alpine habitat, putting species such as the critically endangered corroboree tree frog at greater risk of extinction.



The NSW Labor opposition has called for the government to repeal the bill. It also wants an investigation into allegations that the deputy premier, John Barilaro, failed to disclose a relationship with a political donor who could benefit from the policy.

“Kosciuszko national park will not be able to recover unless this bill is repealed,” said Labor’s environment spokeswoman, Penny Sharpe. “The management of threatened species, soil, water, tourism, jobs and the international reputation of NSW in conservation all lie in tatters as a result of the passage of this bill.

“The wild horse bill ignores science, ignores experts and throws years of conservation consensus out the window in the pursuit of the private interests linked to the National party.”

The NSW government has said the bill “seeks to strike the best balance between the heritage status of brumbies and the protection of Kosciuszko national park”.

“It provides for the removal of brumbies from the national park, which is in line with community expectations and is also consistent with preserving the natural environment of the area,” the environment minister, Gabrielle Upton, said this week.

But the Australian Academy of Science says the heritage management plan will override the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act and the Kosciuszko national park plan of management and “risks the removal of management zones, catchment protection and environmental planning provisions”.

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In a letter to the deputy premier before the passage of the bill, the academy said there was clear scientific evidence of the environmental damage caused by feral horses.



“The wild horse community advisory panel to be established under the heritage bill has no requirement for representation by people with scientific qualifications in areas associated with the conservation of nature, nor does it require qualifications in cultural heritage research,” the letter states.

“This arrangement will see scientific advice all but removed from the management of wild horses in Kosciuszko national park.”

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has also warned that the government the plan would hurt Australia’s reputation.