Introduction: A statement from Peter Hylands

We are going to introduce a section into at least some of our nature stories from Australia that will assist Australia’s Environment Minister, Senator, the Hon. Murray Watt, to understand what is really happening to Australian species across the continent. There are two sections to this new addition to our content; So Watt’s Watt? Which describes the situation as best we can, and So Watt’s Not? Which describes what needs to happen to bring the situation back to some state of normality. All this is meant with every good intent and recognises just how hard the job of Australia’s Environment Minister is, given the extremis of what goes on and what is covered up or dishonestly described.

A famous Australian painter friend of ours, now living in Europe, said to me quite a long time ago, that knowledge is power. In the case of Australia and its environmental issues he was very wrong, When it comes to the environment and biodiversity loss I would describe knowledge as a very dangerous commodity, locking us out of meetings, blocking us from openings of facilities such as the Koala Hospital at Werribee Zoo, avoiding straight answers to straight questions, providing answers which we know are not correct, fudging numbers, creating silly games when it comes to FOI applications and a range of extremely unpleasant and prejudicial events which most people around the world would find hard to believe. I won’t go into the costly and violent acts we have been subject to in this story. Even the cheery Minister Watt’s staff pulled a similar trick, inviting Andrea to attend a briefing on Zoom from the Minister regarding the changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) Act 1999 currently underway, saying they would have to check us out…. and then nothing, even though the Australian Environmental Charity I was President of at the time, completed a detailed and knowledge based submission to the review a few years ago

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Palimpsest

"The old Australia is passing .. if the devastation which is worked to the flora and fauna could be assessed in terms of the value that future generations will put upon them, it might be found that wool clips and beef and timber trades have been dearly bought". Hedley Herbert Finlayson (1935), South Australia

As the old Australia fades and Australian animals are replaced by animals from somewhere else, the non-Indigenous of Australia appear to find it difficult to imagine what the landscapes of Australia once looked like, 50 years ago, 100 years ago, 200 years ago. If they could imagine these things they would be shocked. Not the dried up stubble of the endless paddocks, the industrialised outback with its goats and missing vegetation, the salinity swept and bleak landscapes and blackened and destroyed upland forests, and on it goes.

I would make this point to the Commonwealth Government and all state and territory governments, that is, nature and the environment in Australia actually has Australian species in it, that means animals, these appear to get little or no respite from the killing that occurs at government behest at vast scale across the Australian Continent, as we move to a point where nothing Australian, if it is animal life, is safe and nowhere is safe. While the changes to the EPBC Act still have a long way to run in terms of the development of national environmental standards in Australia, what has occurred at state level is shocking. And we kid ourselves if we think things are improving.

The time wasting mess that has become Victoria’s Inquiry into ecosystem decline in Victoria, where we also spent significant time on the submission and subsequent discussions with the expert panel and discussions / presentation with the politicians on the Inquiry’s committee, not one single protected Australian animal subject to the Victorian Government’s wildlife killing regimes, that is not a single Koala, not those tens of thousands of protected native animals subject to commercial exploitation, not the birdlife being killed in very large numbers for recreation and 'family fun', nor the vast number of species and animals subject to Authority to Control Wildlife Permits (ATCWs), will be spared. Not one. So one may ask, what exactly is the point?

“This information sheet will help you to understand what is involved if an FOI applicant believes an agency has not identified all documents within the scope of the application”. Government of South Australia

Current Inquiries include the South Australian Governments Inquiry into Kangaroo and Wallaby Populations. What has occurred while this inquiry is being held staggered even us, the way it has exposed the intent and conduct of its Environment Department and that the killing, including the introduction of a bounty to kill yet more animals, is among a range of terrible actions against protected Australian wildlife, added to this the now refusal to answer questions under FOI. So why is the detail of Kangaroo data now so secret? I think we know the answer.

Many months on, our submission (our last in Australia) to the South Australian Inquiry remains unpublished. The last sitting day of the South Australian Parliament was on 27 November 2025, and when parliament returns, there is an election on 26 March 2026. So what of the inquiry now?

So how will the refreshed EPBC act deal with all of this. In short, it won’t.

And so this brings us to Tasmania.

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So Watt’s Watt?

In Tasmania in 2024 there were 4,278 active Property Protection Permits across 32 permit type compositions (i.e. a combined permit for the Native Hen and Purple Swamphen) and an actual reported take across all Australian protected species of 633,953 animals, using the Property Protection Permit as the authorisation to kill these animals.

It should be noted that this is not the only mechanism which allows the killing of  protected Australian species, ‘recreational’ killing being another. Commercial exploitation of Wallaby species in Tasmania appears to be once more on the rise with very large export applications (including one for up to 200,000 animals per annum) in play for approval from the Australian Government.

The Tasmanian Government says that all permits issued require the holder to provide a return (take figures) within 28 days of expiry of the permit, or in the case of permits longer than 12 months, within 28 days of the end of the calendar year, and within 28 days of expiry of the permit.  The permit numbers in this table are permits that were active in 2024. It should be noted that permits include Property Protection Permits, Crop Protection Permits, and Special Purposes Wildlife Permits. Permits to take Bennetts, Rufous Wallaby and Brushtail Possum by shooting and Brushtail Possum by trap and destroy are valid for a 5-year period.

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Forester Kangaroo

In 2024 our population estimate for the Forester Kangaroo was 18,000 (against a government estimate of 26,070). In 2024 there were active ‘Property Protection Permits’ to kill 11,840 Forester Kangaroos, that is, 66 per cent of the total population (NKC population estimate) or 45.4 per cent of the total population (when the Tasmanian Government population estimate is used for this species).

The actual kill of Forester Kangaroos in 2024 was reported at 5,238 (in take returns for permits - the actual number will be higher because of the relative complexity of Tasmania’s permit system making immediate term assessments impossible), which in turns was 29 per cent of the entire population using our population estimate or 20 per cent if the Tasmanian Government population estimate for 2024 is used.

Question to the Tasmanian Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage, Mr Gutwein:

“A 2001 report on management of Forester Kangaroos in Tasmania estimated the population then was 26,000 animals. The assessors recommended that no more than 10 per cent of the population from each region in Tasmania should ever be culled. On the Australian Government’s website, apparently from the early 2000s, the Forester Kangaroo was assessed as being not vulnerable on the basis that some 600 were culled each year in the Midlands and 60 in the north-east. Since 2014 a recent RTI from DPIPWE tells us a staggering 51,000 Forester Kangaroos have been allowed to be killed under crop protection permits issued by DPIPWE. That is nearly twice the number of the total estimated population. Do you have any idea what the current population of Forester Kangaroos is in Tasmania? When was the last comprehensive population survey conducted, including within each region?" Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP, Wednesday, 4 September 2019

The story of the Forester Kangaroo is no different to that of many of the other species of Macropod.

“The Forester Kangaroo suffered a massive decline in numbers between the early 1800s and the 1950s, and now inhabits only ten per cent of its pre-European range. The original decrease in range was due to the shooting of Forester Kangaroos for human consumption and dog meat, which began with the arrival of white settlers in Tasmania in the early 1800s. This was exacerbated by the loss and fragmentation of habitat, due to clearing of land for agriculture. This practice has resulted in the isolation and reduction of populations, an ongoing process. Although the species’ status has improved since its lowest point in the 1950s, activities such as land clearance and poaching continue to threaten the viability of the Forester Kangaroo in Tasmania”. Tanner and Hocking, 2000

In 2005 the Forester Kangaroo was assessed for listing as threatened species by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, but was found to be ineligible (at that time advice to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage (Commonwealth) from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) on Amendments to the list of Threatened Species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) 1).

Since 2015 Forester Kangaroos have been killed in large numbers given their small population, returns received from landholders (these are the ‘legal’ killings):

• 2015 – Forester Kangaroos; 200 permits / 9,295 Kangaroos
• 2016 – Forester Kangaroos; 174 permits / 8,310 Kangaroos
• 2017 – Forester Kangaroos; 170 permits / 7,932 Kangaroos
• 2018 – Forester Kangaroos; 158 permits / 8,812 Kangaroos
• 2019 – Forester Kangaroos; 75 permits / 1,315 Kangaroos (to August)
• 2019 (August) to early 2022: 24,108
• In the years 2015 through to August 2019, 35,664 Forester Kangaroos were killed under permit, about 21,000 of those were used commercial use. The number killed in the period roughly equals the Forester Kangaroo’s estimated population at the close of 2019.

For the period June 2019–2022 it appears that returns were received for:

• Forester Kangaroo - 24,108

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So Watt’s Not?

Two very simple home truths for Australia’s Environment Minister the Senator, the Hon. Murray Watt.

1: The Forester Kangaroo must be listed of the threatened species (note: Australia has a species listing lag and species listings are subject to ‘opinion’ and politics, Macropod species are impacted by this principle).

2: Watt ever the spin nationally in Australia, Kangaroo reproduction rates are low, and survival rates, given what is done to them are lower still. The killing rates of the Forester Kangaroo, with its population decline at around 95 per cent since European settlement is a road to extinction for yet another Australian species.

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Wallabies, Potoroos and Bettongs

So Watt’s Watt?

There are five remaining and ‘protected’ species in the ‘Kangaroo family’ in Tasmania including the Forester Kangaroo, the others are the Bennett's Wallaby, Tasmanian Pademelon, Eastern Bettong and the Long-nosed Potoroo. The Bennett's Wallaby and Tasmanian Pademelon are killed in large numbers for commercial gain and via Property Protection Permits. These species do not appear in the commercial Kangaroo reports issued  by the Federal Government and are therefore missing from the data. These animals are exported, most to the mainland, including to New South Wales. An export license is required. We were also told a few years ago that the Forester Kangaroo was also being exploited commercially (by transfer of Property Protection Permits) and I have asked the Tasmanian Government if this practice continues. As yet I have not had a clear answer.

The data from the Tasmanian Government for 2024 shows that there were 109 (Wallabies only) and  3,009 active Property Protection Permits in that year to kill and unspecified number of Bennett's Wallabies and Tasmanian Pademelons (Brushtail Possums are also included in the totality of what is being approved) by shooting, poisoning, trapping and destruction. So open slather on the numbers and the kill methods. Like other states in Australia, Tasmania uses the poison 1080, in the case of Wallabies, the vector is carrots. The standard pretence is that this is done under strict conditions. The problem is that any other non-target animal feeding of a poisoned Wallaby carcass is also going to die, the already struggling Tasmanian Devil springs to mind, not to mention the already endangered Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle as it struggles for survival.

From the actual returns from 2024 (the actual number will be higher because of the relative complexity of Tasmania’s permit system making immediate term assessments impossible); the Bennett's Wallaby 280,514 and the Tasmanian Pademelon 217,412. So that is a total of 497,926.

In a discussion with the Tasmanian Government in 2021, the government confirmed that over the last few years an average of about 500,000 Wallabies were killed in Tasmania each year with about 10 per cent of these animals being transitioned to commercial. The commercial share has increased significantly and that drives further exploitation of species.

“An explosion in Wallaby numbers across Tasmania has farmers and game meat suppliers calling for a new approach to managing the animals, including potential for an expanding wild meat industry. Irrigation development across Tasmania and years of good vegetation growth have created an “all-you-can-eat buffet” for Wallabies, which are breeding in record numbers, according to farmers. We are in discussions with the Government about removing unnecessary red tape that makes it difficult for farmers to commercially use these pests”. Mercury, June 2014

The scenes of the slaughter emerging from Tasmania are reminiscent of the photos of old with the colonists posing next to piles of dead Kangaroos and Wallabies.

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Exploitation of Wallabies in Tasmania

Here are the actual figures from the Tasmanian Government from land holder returns received:

• 2015 – Bennett’s Wallaby and Pademelon (includes Brushtail Possum): 2,835 permits / 1,085,835 animals.
• 2016 – Bennett’s Wallaby and Pademelon (includes Brushtail Possum): 1,768 permits / 556,090 animals.
• 2017 – Bennett’s Wallaby and Pademelon (includes Brushtail Possum): 275 permits / 156,606 animals.
• 2018 – Bennett’s Wallaby and Pademelon (includes Brushtail Possum): 531 permits / 43,863 animals.
• 2019 (to August 2019) – Bennett’s Wallaby and Pademelon (includes Brushtail Possum): 531permits / 14,565 animals.
• Totals in the period 2019 (August) to early 2022 – Bennett’s Wallaby 1,176,002 and Pademelon 1,088,117.

For the period June 2019–2022 it appears that returns were received for:

• Tasmanian Pademelon - 1,088,117.
• Bennett’s Wallaby - 1,176,002; and
• Brushtail Possum - 530,487.

The 1999 commercial trade in Wallabies totalled 21,000 animals (Pademelons and Bennett’s Wallabies), down from 300,000 in 1984. From 1999 onwards, it has been difficult to find the data on commercial activities.

As an indication of the scale of killing of these animals, on the Tasmanian Islands of Flinders and King for permits issued in the period 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2009, commercial killing quotas for the two species of Wallaby were set at 87,750. The commercial quota and the non-commercial quota combined for the period, was a staggering 217,500.

The Tasmanian Government goes on to say:

“Commercial and non-commercial Wallaby harvest quotas for Tasmania (1 July 2007 – 30 June 2008) The Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water decided to withdraw its harvest quota submission for 2007-08 when it became apparent that there was a lack of export market demand for Wallaby products. Both non-commercial and commercial harvesting for the domestic market did occur during 2007-08, but no harvest quotas were approved under the EPBC Act. Consequently, no Wallaby products harvested in the 2007-08 quota period could be exported”.

In June 2017, Josh Frydenberg, Minister for the Environment and Energy at that time. Approved the Proposal for the Commercial Harvest and Export of Products Obtained from Wallabies in Tasmania (the operation) as an approved wildlife trade operation for the purposes of section 303FN of the EPBC Act.

What is particularly troubling is that Wallaby body parts from Tasmania are now being sold in pet food shops in Melbourne – so the commercial trade in Tasmanian wildlife is back with a vengeance.

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So Watt’s Not?

1: It is long since time that the indiscriminate use of 1080 poison was banned in Australia as it is in most other countries around the world.

2: If commercial exploitation of Wallabies in Tasmania is indeed increasing this will add further pressure to the populations of these two protected Australian species. The loss of young and dependent animals will not be accounted for and the extreme cruelty will be ignored.

3: I will say it yet again. If Wallabies (and Kangaroos) are to be commercially exploited in Tasmania, they should be subject to the same Federal Government procedures and reporting requirements as for all other commercially exploited Macropod species in the mainland states.

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Other Tasmanian species subject to Property Protection Permits in 2024

So Watt’s Watt?

Here are the species targeted by Property Protection Permits in 2024 with the number of permits and actuals when we have them (actual number reported as killed in bold).

• Mountain Duck – 88 /  1.166
• Wood Duck – 84  / 1,069
• Bennett’s Wallaby and Tasmanian Pademelon combine – 109 / see below
• Bennett’s Wallaby, Tasmanian Pademelon and Brushtail Possum combined – 3,009 / see below
• Brushtail Possum – 170 / see below
• Bennett’s Wallaby actual kill – 280,514
• Tasmanian Pademelon actual kill – 217,412
• Brushtail Possum actual kill – 119,606
• Black Currawong  - 15 / 107
• Black Swan – 145 / 2,664
• Cape Barren Goose  48 / 448
• Eurasian Coot – 4 / 0
• Forester Kangaroo – 125 / 5,238
• Galah – 10 / 42
• Great Cormorant – 2 / 3
• Green Rosella – 9 / 58
• Grey Currawong – 1 / 0
• Grey Teal – 1 / 0
• Silver Gull – 3 / 0
• Silvereye – 10 / 399
• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo – 228 / 3,881
• Tasmanian Native Hen – 89 / 705
• Welcome Swallow – 2 / 0
• Wombat – 26 / 73
• Yellow Wattlebird – 1 / 0
• Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo – 5 /  1
• Protected Species as per Schedule 1, 2 and 8 - ? these may be additional animals

Total animals reported killed in 2024 - 633,953

NOTE: The Tasmanian Government says that number of native animals reported in take returns for permits that had a return period due in 2024 under a Property Protection Permit from data received as of 12 August 12, 2025. Not all active permits had a return period due in 2024. For example, a take return for 12 -month permit that commenced in 2024 and expires in 2025, will be due in 2025 when the permit expires.

The permits for Protected Species as per Schedules 1, 2 and 8 of the Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulations 2021 are for public safety and are for activities that may be, for example, related to airports or ports.

Quotas are not required for some Australian protected species or method of destruction. For some species a quota may only be required for a particular method. This means that the reported take may be higher than the quota when only some of the permits are required to be allocated a quota.

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So Watt’s Not?

One has to wonder, is all this killing really necessary? A detailed investigation is required into the validity of the reasons given for the killing, much of which is a culturally entrenched norm that describes ‘a land half won’.

The fact that five year permits with apparently no upper limit exist at all is shocking. These should now be cancelled and reviewed and the five year permit should be consigned to the bleak history of Tasmania's environmental record, which is where they belong.

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