It is easy to like horses. In their tamed state, they are our loyal servants. They are docile and respond to our affection. They have served us well over centuries.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And in the wild as brumbies, they are a national symbol. Free-roaming wild horses are part of our heritage as descendants of escaped horses belonging to some of the earliest European settlers. They are part of Australian history.
But they are also pests which threaten our environment. Like many imported species, their increase disrupts the natural order of ecosystems.
Rather than seeing them as part of nature, they are an invasive species which jeopardises the long-term sustainability of the previous natural order.
Their trampling damages water courses and the bedding areas of plants. And we know that disruption of one apparently small part of an ecosystem disrupts other interlinked parts, often in unforeseen ways.
The hard evidence is that the population in the Kosciuszko National Park is out of control. According to data collected by the Australian Alps Liaison Committee, the number of brumbies had risen from 5000 in 2014 to 20,000 two years ago.
These numbers are inexact as they are bound to be, but nobody disputes that the population has risen substantially. The most recent estimate puts them at around 14,000.
Brumbies know no boundaries. They wander at will across the border between NSW and the ACT where different policies to manage their presence (and absence) prevail.
In October, the NSW government struck what it called a compromise between the differing needs of the state and territory.
It proposed to allow wild horses to remain in around one-third of the Kosciuszko National Park. This was in keeping with the views of the then NSW deputy premier John Barilaro.
All horses would be removed from 21 per cent of the park in addition to the half of the park which is already free of them, so leaving the animals with around a third of the park.
But Mr Barilaro is no more. He has resigned, much to the relief of the ACT Minister for Land Management Mick Gentleman who said: "Just as Mr Barilaro has been consigned to history, so too must his Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018."
The proposed amendment to that act would still allow a substantial presence of brumbies on Canberra's doorstep (and so on the ecosystem from which Canberra draws its water).
Under the NSW plan, the current wild horse population of the park would be culled or moved to get the population down to around 3000 in the next five years.
But the ACT government is sceptical both that the numbers will be cut and that the remaining horses will be kept away from delicate areas.
After all, Mr Barilaro has previously promised a reduction - and the numbers rose.
The ACT and NSW governments have literally different points of view.
From Sydney, brumbies might seem like an adorable tourist attraction.
From Civic, they seem like a pest threatening an important part of Canberra's very existence. The land they trample is the land Canberrans depend on, not just for recreation but for its water supply.
We share the ACT government's unease. The ecosystem on which Canberra depends is too important to be threatened by miscalculation.
The government in Sydney should convince the ACT government that its plan is not a threat. That's what good neighbours do.
See also:
