McGirr Has Much Loved Brumbies in His Sights in
Final Assault on Alpine Heritage
Photo: Snowy Brumby Photography Adventures with Michelle and Ian. Paid for by the SWST.
A landmark bill potentially paving the way for the removal of brumbies from the NSW Snowy Mountains could become law within days.
The NSW upper house is set to resume debate this week on a proposal to scrap the mandate for feral horse populations in the Kosciuszko National Park.
Under the management plan, 3000 wild horses are to be retained in 32 per cent of the park to protect the heritage value.
If the Bill passes, that plan would be phased out by 2027 and the wild horse advisory panel scrapped, paving the way for a new program that could seek to have the horses removed or exterminated altogether.
Activists have long decried the harmful impact the introduced horses have on the delicate alpine ecosystem and say no number of horses is sustainable.
Campaigns and petitions have sought to repeal the current measures, which were enabled by former Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s 2018 so-called Brumby Bill, but there is also huge support to retain them and to have prevented the previous cull or slaughter depending which side of the fence you sit.
Independent Wagga Wagga MP Dr Joe McGirr first introduced the legislation to scrap the Brumby Bill to the upper house in June; The Wagga MP completely back-flipping on his previous stance and from the outside looking like he is doing Labor’s dirty work and heavy lifting. At what cost?
McGirr has since walked away from his November 2023 statement, “If we can reduce the number of wild horses in the park to the targeted 3,000, we will achieve an environmental win for future generations, and the legend of the high-country brumby will live on, safely, sustainably and responsibly.”
Horse lovers across the Wagga electorate and in nearby areas such as Cootamundra will be asking themselves if the Wagga voters voted for a member who shares the majority of their beliefs, or a Laborite masquerading as an independent.
Dr Joe McGirr was elected in 2018 to serve in the NSW State Parliament for the electoral district of Wagga.
The by-election was going to be easy enough one to win in that ‘independent’s’ already had runs on the board across both state and federal parliaments.
The 2018 by-election was a perfect storm for a new candidate to be successful.
The Liberal Party had been bruised and battered, discredited and left looking somewhat silly and vulnerable with the departure of its long-term seat holder in Daryl Maguire.
Maguire and his somewhat private partner the previous Premier of NSW Gladys Berejiklian, both went on to appear before The Independent Commission Against Corruption, and although fronting (ICAC) is not an admission of guilt, (it can be used to clear ones name) it didn’t help Daryl or Gladys much. The latter stating that she didn’t recall or had no recollection on a myriad of matters.
No one really knew what McGirr stood for when he ran in 2018. Residents and voters just had a fair idea that he wasn’t another member of the Liberal party and he branded himself in the traditional orange colours of the independents.
The primary vote saw McGirr lose to Liberal Julia Ham by just 28 votes. 12,003 to 12,031. It was the preferences from Labor which saw him get over the line. Dan Hayes received 11,197 for Labor and the preferences flowed from there. Now former Wagga Councillor Paul Funnell secured 5,028 at the time.
McGirr wasn’t a complete unknown, after contesting the seat in 2011.
Fast forward to March 27 2023 and McGirr alongside Alex Greenwich, Member for Sydney and Greg Piper Member for Lake Macquarie released a joint statement on Confidence and Supply where they congratulated the incoming Premier Chris Minns. The statement read, “In respect of the decisive result of the election and in the interest of stable government, the members for Sydney, Lake Macquarie and Wagga have agreed to provide confidence and supply to the incoming government should it be required. We look forward to a strong and consultative working relationship with the new Premier and his team.”
It’s well known that Labor wants the brumbies in the high country gone. It’s not so well known that McGirr’s extended family ties are also connected to Labor. But the above statement from March 27, 2023 shows a willingness by McGirr to serve and work with the government. Any rational person would think Labor would be thankful in return. It just hasn’t been produced in the form of big ticket items. But are they to come when McGirr has taken such a strong stance on items close to Labors’ heart? Who knows.
McGirrs’ website states the following about our hard hoofed friends of the high country and was published there on November 2, 2023. It is lengthy and as follows.
“In politics, as in life, hard decisions sometimes must be made for the greater good of all concerned.
That’s why I’ve supported the NSW Government’s decision to conduct aerial culling of feral horses in the Kosciuszko National Park, as a means to protect the fragile alpine environment from the damage caused by this introduced species.
Of course, this decision has distressed some people – and I understand why. Nobody likes the idea of shooting horses – magnificent animals that have long been one of humankind’s best friends – but the science tells us that aerial culling is needed to save the park from catastrophic damage.
The science also tells us that the number of horses in the park is unsustainably high, with between 14,000 and 23,000 of these large, hard-hoofed animals roaming the high country and doing enormous harm to waterways, wetlands and habitat for native animals and plants.
While some people have disputed these numbers, there can be no doubt that there are many thousands of wild horses in the park and the damage they do has been clearly recorded. Scientific research shows that even in relatively small numbers, horses cause soil erosion, foul wetlands and streams, kill alpine vegetation and trample burrows used by small native animals. Simply put, the high country has no natural defences against large, introduced animals and if action is not taken, the damage will become irreparable.
I also understand the affection many people have for brumbies as part of Australia’s heritage – immortalised in Banjo Paterson’s epic The Man From Snowy River – but those people can take heart in knowing that the management plan aims to leave 3,000 horses in the park. That’s a sustainable number that will limit the damage but retain a presence that preserves memories of our bush heritage.
Other people believe the high-country horses are descendants or originators of the famous light horses that fought in World War One. The former cannot be true as only of Australia’s light horses is known to have been brought home after the war and there is no evidence to support the latter claim. Australia’s war horses were “Walers” – stock horses sourced from across Australia and not a specific breed.
Regardless of the affection for brumbies, the fact remains that there are too many horses doing too much damage in the high country and their numbers must be reduced.
Like feral pigs, deer or dogs, these introduced species are pests that must be controlled.
Few dispute that wild pigs should be culled or that European carp should not be removed from our waterways, if we can find a way to do it. These animals do not have the romantic attraction of horses and their culling does not create the same emotion – but they all do harm to the environment and need to be managed.
If we can reduce the number of wild horses in the park to the targeted 3,000, we will achieve an environmental win for future generations, and the legend of the high-country brumby will live on, safely, sustainably and responsibly.”
The statement has many things wrong with it. McGirr appears to be unaware of the high country numbers. By his own admissions he could be out by 9,000 brumbies and now supports legislation to kill off the supposed final 3,000.
He doesn’t quote where his science is from.
He talks of the damage to these so called fragile areas when the same could be said for the entire eastern seaboard of this country which has now become a concrete jungle.
He praises the management plan to keep 3,000 brumbies but is now moving legislation to do away with those protections he once grasped to.
McGirr talks of only one horse being brought home from the war and that it must have been a Waler therefore the current brumbies are not descendants of war horses. Brumbies were rounded up and some of those bloodlines that went and fought would have stayed in Australia roaming free, meaning some descendants have a high possibility of living on.
In regards to ‘ferals’, McGirr may be right. They should go and maybe we should be eradicating them faster.
For Doctors there is the Hippocratic oath which states “to do no harm, to any person by the misapplication or criminal application of medical knowledge.” Horses aren’t people but there’s something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.
McGirr’s justification that we don’t share the same emotional connection with other animals or the romantic attraction as European Carp or wild pigs is somewhat humorous. Our soldiers never rode off to war on the back of a pig or a fish.