LLS signals changes to Category D firearms licenses

Grant Prendergast, Kynuna Cattle Company, Orrabah, Retreat, north-west of Bendemeer, lives in a district that is threatened with a massive surge in overpopulation by feral pigs and says a decision by the Local Land Services to shift the goalposts will make the testing job of eradication that much more difficult.

Mr Prendergast said in the last six months in his district, about 3000 pigs have been destroyed, but the control task is becoming harder to complete.

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"The pigs have now worked out that the noise of a helicopter means harm, and they tend to stay in cover or pretend to be dead when the chopper comes around," he said.

He now uses a mix of control methods, including shooting contractors with thermal night detection equipment, baits, ground shooting and trapping, but with a run of three wet seasons in the district, the number of pigs continues to thrive.

He says he and other farmers in his area are well supported by Local Land Services, but a letter from North West LLS general manager James Hutchinson-Smith could be the proverbial last straw for landholders who intend to apply to LLS for permits to use Category D weapons for control campaigns.

The letter advised Mr Prendergast that the North West LLF had received advice from the state level of the organisation that outlined the definition of an 'authorised campaign' so it aligned adequately with firearm legislation.

The letter provided a new definition of an authorised campaign for large feral pest animals, like pigs, deer and goats, including active participation from five or more contiguous holdings of different ownership.

It also means that a farmer cannot apply for a Category D firearm licence or renew an existing licence unless they submit to the LLS evidence covering the previous 12 months of involvement in active pest animal control groups of five or more contiguous landholdings under different ownership that have implemented integrated (two or more) control methods targeting at least one of the species identified by LLS.

NSW Farmers acting head of policy and advocacy, Kathy Rankin, said a rapid expansion of vertebrate pests across the state negatively impacts the production of food and livestock.

"These pests are placing animal welfare and human safety at significant risk," Ms Rankin said.

"Category D licenses are highly restricted, but primary producers are effectively being punished by an inefficient system that needs to be modernised.

"We need a system where the responsible agencies work together - with shared definitions - to ensure that those with the experience, capability, and safety regime in pace can work in concert with government agencies to stop the vertebrate pest animal rampage across NSW."

It is this need for five or more properties to agree on a control campaign that Mr Prendergast believes will be a sticking point as in many districts, including his, there is only sometimes neighbourly goodwill apparent.

"What happens if one of your neighbours is a reserve or they are greenies?" he said. "You won't be able to get the required numbers to undertake a program in the eyes of the bureaucrats."

He also pointed out that districts like Walcha and Nundle, where relationships of decades and generations have fallen apart due to plans to introduce wind farms, could equally be troubled.

"I specialise in grass production on my property, and the by-product is beef," he said. "The numbers of feral pigs on my property of 2000 acres (809 hectares) are just smashing my pastures.

Mr Prendergast said the 2019/20 bushfires burned around 10,000ha of countryside in his district, and the regrowth, with the assistance of three wet years, has produced undergrowth so dense that helicopter overhead cannot see sheltering feral pests.

He said his brand new D6T high-track bulldozer, bought to control regrowth, had not been used for 18 months due to the constant fear of bogging.

The other obvious concern is farm biosecurity. Mr Prendergast said veterinarians had issued warnings as Gunnedah's first case of Brucellosis (Brucella suis) in dogs was diagnosed several years ago.

"I've been hearing about an unconfirmed case (of brucellosis) at Loomberah," he said. "Australia is still faced with the elephant in the room of Foot and Mouth Disease in Indonesia. How will we be able to carry out proper controls if FMD gets into this country?

"The LLS is making it virtually impossible for farmers to apply for or to maintain their existing Category D licence with this policy change.

"Victorian and Queensland farmers don't have to jump through the hoops we have to do to hold a Category D licence. They aren't restricted by an out-of-touch bureaucracy like we are in NSW.

"This is going to be an environmental disaster."

Mr Prendergast said the burgeoning issue of feral deer - fallow and red species - is an issue that is also alarming farmers in his district.

He said there are increasing numbers of vehicle accidents, striking deer at night, in the southern parts of the New England and farmers reporting serious amounts of damage to fencing caused by deer.

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