Getting the wild dog program back on track

This kind of grisly find is all too common in Victoria’s High Country, where wild dog numbers appear to be rising again.

On the ground landowners are reporting significant losses – more than 100 lambs have been killed by wild dogs on one farm at Tallangatta over two years, while a producer in Buchan says he lost about 60 lambs in winter alone last year. These are not isolated cases and livestock are not the only target. Wild dogs also wreak havoc in our national parks, preying on native animals. Farmers and communities expect to have an integrated control program using all mediums available. Despite wild dogs costing the Victorian livestock industry up to $18 million each year, the Andrews Government has dropped the ball. With a series of arrogant decisions, Daniel Andrews effectively turned back the clock on wild dog management in Victoria.

At the Mountain Cattlemen’s Association of Victoria Annual Get-Together in Buchan last weekend, I announced our plan to restore farmers’ faith in wild dog control efforts. The Liberal-Nationals have committed to a whole-of-community approach that prioritises local knowledge and experience, and ensures the right people with the right skills are informing the wild dog control program. Unlike Labor, we would not appoint one of our own MPs to chair the Wild Dog Advisory Committee or cut landholder representation. Instead, we would appoint an independent Committee chair, a person with the relevant skills and knowledge to guide action, and we would restore majority landholder representation to the Committee. Further, we would cut red tape that is holding up control efforts on Crown land and adjoining private land and enable Departmental wild doggers and landowners to do their job in controlling wild dogs.

Lastly, we would introduce a competitive tender process for spring and autumn aerial baiting to ensure maximum value and effectiveness for investment.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has already indicated strong support for this Liberal-Nationals proposal to better ensure Victorians can be confident they are getting value for money. It is clear Labor’s lax approach just isn’t working.

Since coming to government, Daniel Andrews has taken the axe to Victoria’s wild dog control program, and abandoned landowners in Victoria’s High Country.

In June 2015, the wild dog bounty was axed without any reason, despite proving its worth as an efficient and low cost measure that encouraged Victoria’s landholders and licensed shooters to be involved in control efforts. As a result, the number of wild dogs caught by DELWP trappers rose to 432 in 2015-16 – the first increase in five years.

For more than a year Labor ignored calls from landowners, the VFF and the Liberal-Nationals to reinstate the bounty, before eventually giving in and bringing it back late last year. Labor’s lengthy and unnecessary review of the Wild Dog Action Plan also hampered control efforts and left landowners with minimal assistance.

And while this review crawled on, the Wild Dog Advisory Committee was sacked, leaving no opportunity for landholder input for more than a year.

Farmers and communities need a government that will work with them to control wild dogs. The Liberal-Nationals will get the wild dog program back on track.