The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action has been slammed by a parliamentary committee for its failure to adequately control wild dogs, feral pigs and other invasive pests.
DEECA's performance, which included the work of Agriculture Victoria, was analysed by the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee on Wednesday.
The committee, chaired by Laverton MP Sarah Connolly, found that DEECA was not sufficiently removing invasive pests from Victoria's wild areas and farmland.
It found that DEECA was only controlling pest carnivores, including wild dogs and foxes, across a little over 33 per cent of the land area it should have been last year.
The committee also found that DEECA was controlling pest herbivores, including feral pigs and deer, on less than 25pc of its target area.
DEECA's poor performance led the committee to call for greater "accountability, urgency and scrutiny" when it came to biodiversity conservation.
The committee found DEECA's annual delivery of on-ground management actions to control pest predators, pest herbivores and weeds in priority areas were, on average, between 51.6-78.1pc below the targets outlined in Biodiversity 2037, a state-wide strategy to protect Victoria's native flora and fauna and it was first rolled out five years ago, in 2018.
It was aimed at reversing the decline of native Victorian wildlife such as the koala and bolstering existing populations.
Pest species were seen as roadblocks to the recovery of some native species.
Under the strategy, DEECA was required to report on its performance to meet the targets it had set under Biodiversity 2027.
The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee found DEECA had not yet reported on any of the performance parameters, including pest control measures, it signed up to.
The committee called on the department to do so immediately.
Ms Connolly reported that rather than increasing the land area over which it had been controlling invasive pests, DEECA had decreased it.
Under Biodiversity 2027, DEECA committed to controlling pest herbivores in priority locations across 4,000,000 hectares.
As of 2022-23, such work was only being undertaken by DEECA on 900,000ha.
In the five years since 2018, the average land area per year where control works were completed was 878,000ha.
This put DEECA 78.1pc behind its own target.
Pest herbivores not controlled sufficiently included goats, pigs, deer, hares and rabbits.
DEECA also committed to controlling pest carnivores in priority locations across 1.5 million hectares.
Pest carnivores in Victoria included wild dogs, foxes and feral cats.
As of 2022-23, DEECA was only controlling the populations of such pest species across 535,000ha - the poorest performance under the strategy to date.
In the five years since 2018, the average land area covered was 726,000ha, 51.6pc below the Biodiversity 2037 target.
The poor performance from DEECA came as farmers in north-west Victoria grappled with the effects of wild dogs on their livelihoods.
DEECA also committed to controlling invasive and pest weeds across 1.5 million hectares but as of the end of 2023, was only carrying out works on 25,000ha.
The five-year average since 2018 was 475,000ha, 68.4pc behind the Biodivery 2037 target.
The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee stressed that the performance figures provided for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 were estimates.
However, it found that overall, the failure to meet targets thus far made the pest control works required between now and 2037 more difficult.
"The Committee notes that if the implementation of Biodiversity 2037 and the failure to meet these targets persists, there is a risk the effectiveness of the strategy will be compromised, and the decline of Victoria's biodiversity and threatened species populations may persist or worsen," the committee's report read.
The parliamentary committee also noted that DEECA's progress in delivering new permanently protected areas of native vegetation on private land was well below the 10,000ha annual target.
This target was required annually to meet the contributing target of 200,000ha by 2037.
DEECA estimated there was 901ha of new permanently protected native vegetation on private land in 2021-22 and 2408ha in 2022-23.
The performance in 2021-22 was just under 10pc of the area targeted.
Under the Biodiversity 2037 strategy, DEECA had the option to review and change its targets if they proved unachievable.
"The committee notes the contributing targets in Biodiversity 2037 are supposed to be reviewed and updated every five years to ensure they are achievable and relevant, however, DEECA has not yet published revised or updated targets," the committee's report read.
"The strategy also states that additional contributing targets for both its goals should have been established by 2022, however, DEECA has not yet published any new contributing targets."
Considering her committee's findings, Ms Connolly said there must be greater "accountability, urgency and scrutiny" when it came to DEECA's work on biodiversity conservation.
"Transparency and accountability are central to improving biodiversity and threatened species management and outcomes," she said.
