At a time of very significant climate events the Government of New South Wales is killing an increasing number of protected native animals using its Harms Permit System, that is just on half a million in 2025.

What is evident in all states is that the cumulative impact of state government behest protected wildlife killing is not considered across its many forms, which include commercial exploitation, recreational killing, harms and mitigation permits, unprotection and secret killing regimes (which include Koalas).

In 2025, including unaccounted for joeys, (many at foot) 1,226,000 million protected Australian animals were killed by New South Wales Government behest when killing via commercial exploitation and harms permits are combined, significantly more than in 2024.

Nor are the impacts of climate change and large scale development, including third world scale land clearing for agriculture, mining and construction considered and this is where a very large number of protected native animals also die (in the hundreds of millions). So a long line of silos, each silo with a great many dead protected Australian animals, who can no longer tell their story. It is the incompetence and devious nature of it all that is so shocking.

In the recent period the New South Wales Government has reported (via its Inquiry into licences to harm native animals) that:

• In 2025 harms permits were issued to kill 485,000 native animals;
• In 2024 harms permits were issued to kill 296,000 native animals;
• In 2023 harms permits were issued to kill 234,000 native animals; and
• In 2024, 2,254 harms permits were requested, and just three of those permits were rejected.

Over the same period in New South Wales a large number of Kangaroos were killed for commercial gain (the figures do not include joeys):

• In 2025 - (estimate) 570,000 Kangaroos were killed for commercial gain;
• In 2024 – 532,415 Kangaroos were killed for commercial gain;
• In 2023 – 509,671 Kangaroos were killed for commercial gain; and
• In the period 2023 to 2025 at least 420,000 joey Kangaroos were killed (and unaccounted for in the data) by individuals involved in the commercial exploitation of these protected Australian animals.

In 2023, the Nature Knowledge Channel analysed a New South Wales Government ‘dump’ of harms permits on its website. This took several days. The analysis gave the number of harms permits by species for the period from 2018 to 2022. The total kill from that analysis by the New South Wales Government via its harms permits in the period was as follows:

• 2022 – 152,036
• 2021 – 164,208
• 2020 – 231,566
• 2019 – 485,471

2018 – 928,361 – Wildlife and politics, this was the year the New South Wales Government thought that it would gain votes by promoting the mass killing of Australian wildlife in regional communities prior to the 2019 state election. Kangaroos suffered very badly as a result and particularly so in 2018 and 2019.

In the period 2018 to 2022 and a large number of Kangaroos were also killed for commercial gain:

• 2022 – 402,719
• 2021 – 497,285
• 2020 – 469,186
• 2019 – 625,241
• 2018 – 593,796
• In the period 2018 to 2022 at least 660,000 joey Kangaroos were killed (and unaccounted for in the data) by individuals involved in the commercial exploitation of these protected Australian animals.

All of it a deeply shocking way in which an Australian state has chosen to treat its wildlife. What is even more shocking is that each and every state in Australia does a similar thing.

We send out the same warnings to environment ministers in Australia year after year. In a small group of leading nations when it comes to the rate of extinctions, Australia tops the list when it comes to mammal extinctions, the list of extinct, regionally extinct, critically endangered, endangered and threatened species is long and getting longer by the day. Australian species cannot sustain the slaughter and killing at scale because of climate change and development.

The tipping point is near.

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Nonsensicals!

Three years ago, Australia agreed to adopt the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The GBP supports sustainable development in order to stop and reverse the loss of biodiversity, enabling the world to live in harmony with nature by 2050. One of the targets which is known as Target 18 is meant to eliminate, phase out or reform annual incentives that harm biodiversity.

The way it is going in Australia and by 2050 there will be nothing left. For 2025 early figures show that government behest killing of protected Australian wildlife will top 5 million animals. Australian State and Federal Government incentives, which include bounties, subsidies, international marketing of a wildlife trade, surveys, grants that further enable and encourage hunting of native species, including product promotions, expensive inquiries that go nowhere and endless government reports that try to justify the mass killing of wildlife at government behest. And there is an army of public servants that spend a great deal of time trying to defend the status quo because they believe that is what is required of them. Leadership someone please.

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