There has been no independent long term study that demonstrates impartially the "impact" of the brumby on long term retention of water catchment values or native species biodiversity, the cultural continuity among other values being bypassed. The NPWS "acknowledges" the cultural and social values of the "wild horses" held in the park but fails to acknowledge and use their better known name "brumby" and commonly refers to them as "feral pests". More loaded language. This language used by NPWS clearly does not convincingly or sincerely acknowledge the cultural and social values held by many people, as the NPWS have treated them with total disregard and contempt over many years, as they have the people that raised and worked with horses to build modern Australia, a free democracy. A nation where scientists too can attract research support impartially with the view to fully inform the public. They say they are “very confident” in the numbers, however, the Key Findings of the Final Report states as follows: I. “The Independent Technical Reference Group (ITRG) has not been able to reach a conclusion on trends over time in horse numbers or densities in Kosciusko Nation Park (KNP) because of comparability between successive horse surveys.” and II. "The IRTG considers that a figure of about 6000 in KNP in 2014, from the draft aerial survey report (Cairns 2015) is a reasonable working estimate to guide future management of horse impacts” Given the brutality and animal cruelty that is about to unfold I would have thought that their basis for being “very confident” had a lot more strength then this. Yes, the so called "Independent" Technical Reference Group, there are so many issues with this handpicked agenda orientated group, it’s difficult to know where to start. However, I need to start somewhere and given that this is supposed to be independent, I draw attention to their Scope of Reference, which states “review and provide advice on the EXISTING ASSESSMENT of the nature and extent of the impacts of wild horse populations on the park.” I highlighted “existing assessment” as this is the first indicator that the ITRG assessment was in no way independent as its report is nothing more than a regurgitation of NPWS propaganda cobbled together over decades of abusive process. I now draw your attention to the Final report of the Independent Technical Reference Group – Item 7 - Acknowledgements “The ITRG thanks those stakeholder organisations and individuals who provided research, information and evidence for our consideration; Rob Gibbs and staff of NPWS for provision of briefings, information and access to KNP; OEH and NPWS staff for helpful reviews of drafts of the report; Joanne Knowles (NPWS) for secretariat support; and Carey Lonsdale for editorial assistance in drafting the report.” Given that Rob Gibbs has been leading the charge on the eradication of the Brumby, do you not think it would have tainted the ITRG for him to be providing briefings and information and was able to get in to their OODA Loop (decision making process)? Gibbs stated publically at a consultation meeting his intent “was to get rid of Brumbies” out of what public land has become park long since the horses arrived and contributed ecoservices to water and biodiversity security. Brumbies were here long before Gibbs or the many of antigrazing lobby got to Australia. I draw your attention to the ITRG Recommendations, in particular Item 6 which states as follows: “the ITRG concludes that there are significant knowledge gaps in our understanding of horses in KNP” How can a reference group be assembled and their findings relied on when in their final report they acknowledge that they lack “understanding of horses in KNP”? I find it appalling that the NPWS has throughout this whole process tried to convince the community and all stakeholders that the brumby does not have a place in the KNP, rather than providing unbiased or impartial scientific evidence or even attempting to undertake a study that looks at the positive impacts (ecological imperatives) to determine if they (these big animal activities) out way the so called negative impacts. The Management Plan was doomed as (jaundiced and biased) from the start and was never going to gain public support as it was based on agenda driven commissioned science fiction precautionary principle opinionated subjective opinion in the least claiming ‘potential threats and damage.’ The NPWS failings and mismanagement of public land has been evident over the last 2 decades with many out of control inferno’s destroying both public and private land wiping out both fauna and flora and causing irreversible damage, of which will very shortly result in a Senate Enquiry (Wambelong Fire) of which could result in ICCAC investigations and recommendations made to the DPP due to false and misleading information provided by the NPWS. It may also lead to a reopening of the alpine inferno investigations that were orchestrated by significant vested interests denying the Australian public all the information available by yet more restrictions from terms of reference excluding the truth. The public opinion on the NPWS is low, due to their mismanagement and opinionated rather than evidenced based management policies and with this brumby management plan it is bound to get lower when the protests really commence and or evidence of the massacre is distributed to the media. The brief that Straight Talk were given wasn’t to provide an unbiased report to the ITRG of the community views it was just another slick and insincere engagement program by the NPWS to garner support for their views and opinions rather than developing a management plan that is consistent with community (tax payer) and stakeholder views, interests and observations. The evidence of this is the language and commentary used in its report and further by way of the recommendations it made, In particular the following of which are directly out of Straight Talks Report: * “Deployment of advocates supporting the NPWS position” and * “Full social media campaign around “protect the snowies” rolling out social media packages around the key themes/messages” * “Continued deployment of advocates for the NPWS position – in a second wave to address significant issues by opponents” * “Do not rest or lapse into just focusing on implementation as the opposition will continue in some quarters” An independent review of the NPWS review process of this Management Plan needs to be undertaken, as all the evidence on the OEH website suggests that the “review” was in fact not a review, rather it was a campaign to implement the Management Plan, this view is supported by just about every document available and also in the name of the campaign “Protect the Snowies”. More of the same rubbish the public have been coerced to swallow over decades of abusive public asset process. For a Government Department to spear head a campaign against the community and stakeholder views using hard earnt tax payer dollars in order to appease the left wing lobbyist within their government is nothing short of disgraceful. The local community, sheep and cattlemen and horse riders left the mountains in that good of state they chose to create a National Park on the legacy of many decades’ generations of committed strategic continuity of a multicultural proven effective management. Now through the mismanagement of the NPWS they have created mass inferno’s, of which have decimated habitat for all native wildlife, created erosion and silted up creeks, water reservoirs soot drifts destroying electricity turbines. But the NPWS will not be to blame, as they have found two new “scape goats” Climate Change and the poor old brumby that defied these uncontrollable holocausts in otherwise designer dingo no graze, industrial strength fire suppressed landscapes in ecological collapse. The Brumby runs grazed green is where the few remnants of biodiversity were fed and fire safe. Fly in fly out frogs, rats, skinks and possums for captive breeding endangered species industries, further encouraging misguided boffins on public research grants. The fire went out or went to cool burns on the Brumby runs. Defied climate change theories and claims, and because of this, rogues are spinning their epitaph. In the coming decades when the questions are asked about how did the ecological collapse in the high country happen? And what happened to the biodiversity? Evidence will then be available to support the views and the benefits of grazing activity, unfortunately all will be lost at this point, the biodiversity, the culture and the heritage due to the misguided views of a few that have not lived in for generations nor understands the high country. And while all of this is going on "NSW Premier Mike Baird takes 70 staffers on three-day $80,000 retreat to luxury resort to 'reflect' on their performance - and taxpayers pick up the bill" Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3750942/Mike-Baird-takes-70-bureaucrats-taxpayer-funded-retreat-Fairmont-Resort-Blue-Mountains.html#ixzz4I4j8XXzi Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook