2025-05-27
The Minns Labor Government’s decision to enter into a reckless deal with the Shooters Party to reintroduce private bounties for shooting invasive species will undermine environment management in NSW back decades and flies in the face of the scientific knowledge on managing invasive species.
Sue Higginson said:
“This backflip by the Minns Labor Government is a return to the bad-old days of the Game Council, a time when public land was handed over to the gun lobby, native animals were put in the firing line, and science was nowhere to be seen,”
“This deal with the Shooters Party in NSW is clearly part of a deal-done behind closed doors so the Premier should come clean to the people of NSW about what he is getting out of the deal. The community are sick of political deals that undermine science, the environment and integrity in politics,”
“Labor has shown us exactly who they’re listening to, and it’s not the ecologists, farmers or frontline land managers. It’s the Shooters Party and a political culture that has no actual understanding of the environment. They’re playing politics with the land, with nature, and with our collective productivity,”
“This will not solve the invasive species crisis, it will make it worse. We know what works. We need properly funded, evidence-based control programs led by professionals. Instead, Labor has chosen to bankroll hobby shooters while our ecosystems suffer,”
“Farmers should be furious. This won’t protect their stock, it won’t restore degraded land, and it won’t address the root of the problem. It’s just more noise from a Government with no real connection to the land, no real plan and no real spine,”
“This is not pest control, it’s political theatre. There is no science behind this decision. There is no effectiveness behind this decision and there is certainly no integrity behind this decision. If the Minns Government is serious about protecting nature and restoring agricultural land, it must ditch this farce, fund real feral animal control, and stop treating our land like a political bargaining chip” Ms Higginson said.
For media contact Sue Higginson on 0428 227 363
Background:
A review of Australian bounty schemes concluded that:
- Bounties rarely achieve population control
- Juveniles are disproportionately targeted, undermining ecological impact
- Fraud is “synonymous” with bounty schemes
- Bounty hunters typically avoid areas of greatest impact in favour of easiest access (source: CSIRO’s “Managing Australia’s Pest Animals: A Guide to Strategic Planning and Effective Management” – Braysher 2017)
- The NSW Natural Resources Commission’s 2024 report into invasive species made no recommendation to introduce bounties. (source: NRC Review of Invasive Species Management in NSW, 2024)
- The Victorian fox bounty trial resulted in most kills being juveniles, which typically have up to 80% natural mortality. (source: Victorian Government trial reports, ISC analysis)
- NSW’s former Game Council was abolished in 2013 following a scathing review that found systemic governance failures, political interference, and unacceptable risks to public safety and biodiversity.