I support the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Repeal Bill 2025. The Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018 has long been controversial. It mandates that a herd of wild horses be maintained in Kosciuszko National Park, even as those animals continue to inflict damage on fragile alpine ecosystems. Under the Act, we legally require that the horse population be reduced only to a level of 3,000 across 32 per cent of the park by 2027, effectively locking in the presence of horses, regardless of the environmental cost. Yet, across our mountain regions, we see the consequences: wetlands trampled, streams churned, native plants suppressed and habitats of endemic species degraded. The science is quite clear: These horses are not benign bystanders; they are agents of ongoing ecological harm. To continue to enshrine their protection in legislation is to bind ourselves to environmental decline.

By repealing the 2018 Act, this bill offers us a chance to restore balance and prioritise native species, ecological integrity and landscape resilience. This bill is about restoring the health of the unique, iconic environment of the Australian Alps. Importantly, the bill is not a call for unthinking destruction of all horses. Rather, it gives us control and the responsibility to design a future management plan grounded in science, compassion and restoration.

Many people on the northern beaches have a strong connection to the Australian Alps, visiting to enjoy the snow season or mountain biking and bushwalking in the summer. I get a lot of correspondence from my constituents of Wakehurst about wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park, mostly lamenting the ecological destruction they cause, but there are a few calling for their protection. I acknowledge that people have real emotional, cultural and historical attachments to the brumby. But, in a national park, holistic ecosystem health must be the priority. I support the bill and commend the member for Wagga Wagga for his leadership on this issue over many years.

Read the full second reading of the bill on the Hansard here.