Shadow Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh has slammed Labor’s management of wild dogs.
He said if elected, the Coalition would open a competitive tender process for aerial baiting of the destructive pest.
At the Mountain Cattlemen’s Association of Victoria Annual Get Together in Buchan, last weekend, Mr Walsh said the Labor Government had “dithered” and let dog numbers get out-of-control.
“Daniel Andrews cut the successful wild dog bounty program and then wasted two years conducting a review,” Mr Walsh said.
“An elected Liberal-Nationals government is committed to restoring wild dog experience and local knowledge to the advisory group, and to restoring farmers’ faith in the program.”
Ms Pulford rebutted the claims and said Labor had increased funding to support fox and wild dog management, which had allowed aerial baiting to run twice yearly (double the frequency than under the previous Coalition Government) and the bounty on wild dogs to increase.
“It should come as no surprise that the Coalition wants to privatise wild dog control and send the cooperative efforts by government and farmers back decades,” Ms Pulford said.
“Mr Walsh has demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of how the current wild dog and fox control program operates.”
Mr Walsh said a Coalition Government, if elected, would:
- Appoint an independent chair to the Wild Dog Control Advisory Committee, with relevant wild dog control experience;
- Restore majority landowner representation to the Committee;
- Cut red tape that hampers wild dog controllers and affected landowners from control efforts; and
- Introduce a competitive tender process for spring and autumn aerial baiting to ensure maximum value and effectiveness for investment.
He said Labor had axed the wild dog bounty program in early 2015 but was forced to reintroduce it in October 2016, after pressure from landholders and the Liberal Nationals.
Mr Walsh said without the bounty, wild dog numbers increased and in 2016, for the first time in five years, wild dog controllers caught more dogs than the previous year.
“Wild dogs are hounding livestock in Victoria’s High Country at the expense of farmers’ livelihood while Labor dithered,” Mr Walsh said.
He criticised the appointment of Labor Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing to chair the Wild Dog Management Advisory Committee and said it had significantly reduced landholder representation.