Tony O'Leary | Monaro benefits from strict ACT brumby policy

In Corryong there's a sign to Jack Riley's final resting place boldly declaring his title as the man whose feats inspired Banjo Patterson's celebrated verse.

While just up the Monaro Highway from the national capital at the Bredbo Inn a plaque declares Banjo named a local horseman Charlie McKeahnie, from Bolero district as his inspiration for the legendary horseman.

For some politicians it has been a small step to impart similar icon status to the feral mountain horses.

In the upcoming NSW election, that debate is set to re-emerge in the state seat of Monaro, adjoining the ACT, where the former member and deputy premier, John Barilaro, drove a campaign to enshrine the horses with special legislation.

It's a legislative protection yet to be extended to Kosciuszko National Park's native species, despite a Taronga Zoo breeding program for the park's threatened Corroboree frogs, and other marginal native species within the park.

Debate over the now bipartisan NSW policy to reduce feral horse numbers in Kosciuszko National Park from 14,000 to 3000 flared recently with a further attempt to reignite the issue and stall the horse management program.

The immense challenge to curb a feral animal explosion across parts of NSW was exposed by shock jock fallout over claims of public exposure to danger and animal cruelty in the national park.

Walkers were alleged to have taken emergency cover from gunfire during a deer cull at Moonbah, off the Barry Way, near Jindabyne.

And feral horse culling at ground level at the northern end of the park was alleged to have endangered park users a kilometre away at a time when the cull had failed to despatch some animals in a safe and proper fashion.

The RSPCA investigated the claims and cleared the park service of any wrongdoing.

The claimed incident at Moonbah defies explanation. According to talkback radio, "... two of the people who'd gone on a bushwalk, hiding within five metres of where the dust was being blown up by these weapons that were being despatched from the chopper. They were within five metres of being shot."

Which raises the question, if bullets were flying around bush walkers, were they surrounded by the targets of the operation, feral deer? An unlikely scenario.

But that did not stop former federal opposition leader, now NSW One Nation MP, Mark Latham from describing the scene dramatic fashion.

"People who live there and operate tourism activities don't like the idea of helicopters flying in like a scene from Apocalypse Now and picking off these horses, shooting them dead and stray bullets going everywhere".

"I think it's a job for the police to come in and put some boundaries around this cowboy activity, so that we don't have the slaughter of brumbies which is inappropriate, and most importantly we don't have a tragedy where a stray bullet collects a human," he said.

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There had been no aerial shooting of feral horses in the national park, a claim that remained unchallenged at the time. Having repeatedly called for recounts and questioned feral horse numbers the Donald Trumps of the Snowy Mountains were joined by Mr Latham who also questioned the numbers from the comfort of his Sydney base.

Grazing ended in the national park in 1968 after an official inquiry. The chief Brumby icon advocate, Mr Barilaro, was born in Queanbeyan a few years later in 1971.

While Mr Barilaro's bid to make a transition to the diplomatic and trade circuit failed, the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act which he promoted remains law, and following the latest feral horse culling flare up, his successor, Nichole Overall, called for a temporary halt to the horse management program.

The NSW horse protection legislation was passed despite NSW cabinet sources at the time confirming, not one Liberal Party minister believed the move was justified. They went along to keep the peace with the National Party.

The clamour for preservation of the Kosciuszko National Park feral horses has been driven by claims of their alleged unique equine heritage.

But the horse legends and myths sourced to Banjo Patterson's famous poem, The Man from Snowy River were not backed up by Banjo, a dedicated horse lover who had to take compassionate leave when his charges in Egypt could not be brought home.

According to the bush poet himself, explorers and early settlers who took up new grazing lands were responsible for the nucleus of wild horse mobs.

The numbers were added to by escapees from horse commons which he said resulted in horses being in as bigger plague numbers as wallabies and rabbits.

They would be trapped like vermin and shot, he wrote, "but it had to be done for if they didn't get rid of the horses the horses would get rid of them".

Following the latest talk-back eruption, Ms Overall, commenting on pictures of dead feral horses despatched as part of the park management cull called for the program to be reviewed, and the management program was temporarily halted.

It's a message that may have travelled well in parts of the electorate, but the seat includes large suburban extensions of the national capital just across the border in NSW.

She is reported as repeating her predecessors claims the Snowy horses have been part of life in the Monaro for generations.

But that hasn't been the approach in the ACT where any feral horses lurking on the border are promptly despatched should they enter the water catchments.

And they are readily seen not far across the border in both Kosciuszko National Park and adjoining NSW state forests But the urban section of the Monaro electorate has been a direct beneficiary of the ACT's strict policy of eliminating on sight feral horses which cross into the territory catchments, with Icon Water supplying both Canberra and Queanbeyan from the Brindabella catchment and Googong.

Following recent droughts in the ACT an emergency backup source was constructed from the Murrumbidgee at Tharwa to Burra Creek and Googong.

This now brings the Tantangara, Murrumbidgee catchment, into play, where feral horses abound in numbers and where around Currango homestead they are to be preserved in the final count.

The Icon/ACT priority given to water quality clearly does not mesh with efforts by feral horse supporters to frustrate the bipartisan horse management plan to bring the Kosciuszko numbers down.

Despite Kosciuszko National Park management pointing out that it was carrying out a strategy dictated by the NSW government, it suspended operations and launched a review which according to the latest reports has so far delayed feral animal control measures in all NSW parks for six weeks.

Any further attempt to frustrate efforts to control feral horse numbers in the national park might be exploited with Monaro constituents closer to the ACT border being Icon customers and direct beneficiaries of the no-tolerance policy on feral horses, no matter their origin.