“That things carried on as before, following the initial findings  of the New South Wales Government Inquiry into the Health and wellbeing of Kangaroos and other Macropods in New South Wales, and its heavily altered final report when compared to the original draft, should serve as a lesson for all those submitting to the Government of South Australia’s Inquiry into Kangaroo and Wallaby populations in South Australia”. Peter Hylands

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The New South Wales Government Inquiry into the Health and wellbeing of Kangaroos and other Macropods in New South Wales

Submissions to the New South Wales inquiry closed in late April 2021, hearings were held between June and August and the final report, with substantive omissions from the original draft report, was published in mid-October.

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Something very wrong?

Clearly something was very wrong and that is precisely what the committee for the New South Wales Government Inquiry into the Health and wellbeing of Kangaroos and other Macropods in New South Wales thought. It would have been very hard for them not to recognise what was going on.

For those listening to the inquiry or providing evidence, the hearings were deeply shocking and revealed a grotesque lack of standards and governance as well as the constant suffering of residents in New South Wales impacted by the killing. Not to speak of the terrible things being done to Kangaroos and their joeys.

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The shocking outcome to the inquiry

While the New South Wales Government should be commended for establishing the inquiry, what occurred in the final instance can only be described as shocking, the significant watering down of the draft report (by politicians from the Labor, Liberal and National Parties), removing critically important recommendations, and the subsequent signing off of the New South Wales Government’s Wildlife Trade Management Plan for the Commercial Harvest of Kangaroos in New South Wales 2022-26 (so criticised by the inquiry).

New South Wales Environment Minister at that time, Matt Kean, despite what we all knew about the utter mess that Kangaroo ‘management’ in New South Wales was in, signed off the management plan, passing it to the then Commonwealth Environment Minister, Sussan Ley, who also signed off on the plan on 22 December 2021.

“The Minister has made a decision to approve the NSW Plan with conditions relating to annual reporting on population surveys, harvest quotas, and monitoring and compliance of harvesters with their state licence requirements”.

Those individuals and organisations trying to protect the remaining Kangaroo populations in New South Wales spent a great deal of time preparing submissions based on solid evidence, only to be completely ignored.

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Dissenting statements

What follows are comments and statements from committee chair, Cate Faehrmann MLC (Green).

• The robustness of the science and population estimates behind setting quotas for how many Kangaroos may be harvested has been called into question through this inquiry. Without independent oversight and greater transparency, we cannot have confidence that the government's Kangaroo management program is not contributing to potentially devastating declines in some Kangaroo populations.
• This inquiry has also heard troubling evidence of inhumane, disrespectful practices that are not acceptable to many in the community, including the treatment of joeys. There are several recommendations that, if acted upon, will increase the transparency around the deaths of joeys that are occurring in both the commercial and non-commercial industries.
• In my selection of dissenting statements (removed from final report’s findings and recommendations) the chair says:
• Overall, the committee is concerned that Kangaroo numbers are in serious decline in New South Wales, with mobs becoming marginalised and fragmented across the state's landscape. The committee believes that, notwithstanding the impact of drought on Kangaroo populations, land clearing and licensed killing for agricultural interests and the commercial harvesting industry are major factors in this decline.
• That there is currently no humane method of killing macropods and their joeys for either commercial or non-commercial purposes.
• That, as a matter of urgency, the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment introduce a moratorium on harvesting Wallaroos in the Northern Tablelands and Red Kangaroos in the Western Plains, until new population surveys are conducted. The survey methodology must be independently peer reviewed, and primary data (including photographic evidence) must be made available for public, independent scrutiny.

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How nothing ever changes

Meanwhile, and away from the inquiry report, the New South Wales Government Department of Planning, Industry and Environment claims:

“No adverse long-term impacts on Kangaroo populations have been identified after more than 45 years of harvesting under commercial management plans. This time frame has included several periods of severe drought”.

This statement can only be described as total nonsense.

The Commonwealth Government claims:

“The Minister (Sussan Ley) does not provide permission, nor can the Minister prevent the commercial exploitation of Kangaroos. Commercial exploitation of Kangaroos and Wallabies occurs under state management plans that require exploitation to be sustainable and humane. The revised Code of Practice that was published in November 2020 after extensive consultation with the public, scientists, the Kangaroo industry and animal welfare experts including the RSPCA”.

After I complained to Matt Kean following his signing of the plan, I got the following response (extracts). Incredibly they were claiming an increase in Kangaroo populations once again, along with the dubious claim that non-lethal options are explored, it is as if the inquiry had never happened:

“I refer to your email to the Treasurer, and Minister for Energy and Environment, the Hon Matt Kean MP about the management of kangaroos in New South Wales. Your correspondence was referred to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) and I have been asked to reply. In New South Wales, Kangaroos are protected under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. It is an offence to harm, attempt to harm, or to buy or sell Kangaroos for commercial purposes, without a licence. Licences are only issued for damage mitigation, where non-lethal options are ineffective, or for the legal harvesting of Kangaroos for meat and skins under the commercial Kangaroo management program.

Kangaroo numbers fluctuate in accordance with availability of feed, principally ground cover vegetation, which is primarily determined by rainfall. To maintain sustainable Kangaroo populations, the commercial Kangaroo harvest quotas and non-commercial culling limits are set after populations are surveyed each year. The best available scientific methods are used to design and conduct the surveys of Kangaroo populations, using both fixed-wing and helicopter surveys. Aerial surveys undertaken during the period June to September 2021, indicate a total of 10.9 million kangaroos inhabit the 15 kangaroo management zones of inland New South Wales (average density of 15.6 Kangaroos per square kilometre), an increase of 4.5 per cent compared to the survey results of 2020.

To ensure the humane treatment of Kangaroos, there are national commercial and non-commercial codes of practice for the humane shooting of Kangaroos. These codes set the criteria for humane shooting and are intended to ensure that shooting is carried out in a manner to minimise, to the fullest extent possible, pain, distress and suffering. The New South Wales commercial kangaroo management program is conducted in line with a Wildlife Trade Management Plan approved by the Australian Government Minister for the Environment according to the requirements of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. A new plan for 2022-2026 is currently being assessed (now approved) by the Australian Government, to take effect from 1 January 2022”.

We suggest you download the report, Inquiry into the Health and wellbeing of Kangaroos and other Macropods in New South Wales, from the government’s website, it makes for some shocking reading.