21 November 2022
A VICTORIAN WILD HORSE INMATE PROGRAM Wild-living Brumbies can help reduce reoffending in adult and juvenile offenders
I am lobbying to end the cruel and barbaric slaughter of wild living Brumbies, and to introduce Legislation, that will protect any environmental issues as well as wild living Brumbies. From time to time, it may be necessary to remove or rehome Brumbies for environmental reasons.
Let’s see the end of the cruel and barbaric treatment of sentient creatures.
Animal programs have proven to be successful in reducing recidivism in prisons, showing some of the most conclusive success rates in the World.
For example, The Wild Horse and Burro Program in Arizona State Prison has a running success rate of 95% in reducing recidivism in those joining the program. Of 50 Prisoners released between 2012 and 2019, only 2 had been re-incarcerated – a 96% success rate. https://www.brightvibes.com/wild-horses-wilder-men…/
Wild-living Brumbies can help reduce reoffending in adult and juvenile offenders.
Adult and Juvenile offenders learn new skills on the job, engaging them physically, mentally and most importantly, emotionally. Self-efficacy is paramount to build in those with mental health issues which many prisoners suffer with. The ability to gain the trust of a wild animal, work with and “gentle” that animal is a solid grounding in gaining self-efficacy.
The Prisoners selected to join U.S. program (which is highly sought after) work for approximately 4 months, gentling the horses and preparing them for sale. The horses are then auctioned, with some of the costs associated with their gentling recouped. This particular program at Arizona State Prison commenced by Randy Helm in 2012, with set up costs of US$230,000.
Similar programs with Australian Wild Horses (Brumbies) will be able to facilitate changes in the individuals that traditional programs have yet to match. Increases in the rates of Prisoners reoffending show that traditional programs are just not working.
Victoria has several Working Prisons, for example, Langi Kal Kal, Dhurringile and Tarrengower. These prisons have the acreage that could be required to support these programs. Set up of a program such as this, could be set up for relatively low costs, with Prisoners being involved in building the necessary facilities, including round yards, stables, veterinary inspection areas and horse training areas.
There is also room to expand and grow support programs, such as growing stock feeds to feed the Brumbies – Lucerne, Meadow Hay, Grains – this is another area prisoners would gain experience and skills to help maintain lower costs. Learning Animal husbandry could be another option offered to any Prisoners interested in supporting such a program in the curriculums offered.
The options and positive outcomes to rehome and save our Brumbies are endless, with the outcomes only limited to Corrections Victoria’s willingness to support such a beneficial program.
Some figures to consider:
How much does it cost to contain and maintain a Prisoner in a Victorian jail today?
(The Victorian Government figures for 2019/2020 show the cost was $323.45 per day – or $118,059.25 per annum). – https://www.corrections.vic.gov.au/…/corrections…
How many prisoners reoffend in Victoria every year?
Of the prisoners released during 2018-2019, 43.6% of prisoners had reoffended by 2020-2021 – or in total, 52.5% which includes those placed on Corrective Services Orders.
https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/…/released…
ABS Statistics show in 2021, there were 42,930 incarcerated prisoners in Australia. Of those, 7,248 were in Victoria, with reoffenders increasing by 6% – a total of 3,826. https://www.abs.gov.au/…/prisoners…/latest-release…
At a cost of $118,059.26 per annum to incarcerate reoffenders alone, cost the Victorian Government a staggering $451,694,690.50. Read that again – four hundred and fifty one million, six hundred and ninety four thousand, six hundred and ninety dollars and fifty cents per annum to incarcerate reoffenders in Victoria.
If elected I will lobby for the introduction of a Victorian Wild Horse Inmate Program for Adult and Juvenile Offenders.
Please vote 1 Marilyn Nuske, Independent Candidate Bendigo West.
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21 November 2022
Victorian Labor’s Dangerous Love Affair with the Gun and Hunting Lobbies
Over its past two terms in office, the Victorian Labor Government has been silently weakening controls over gun ownership while encouraging the slaughter of native wildlife by recreational hunters.
Earlier this year, when challenged about continued recreational hunting of Victorian native water birds, the Premier, Daniel Andrews, chillingly, stated:
“Some of us play golf, some people go shooting…”.
“In the Premier’s view, it seems, it is ok for people to kill wildlife as casually as they might play golf”, Ms Nuske stated.
Here are some of the facts:
- As a result of amendments to the Wildlife Act, the Game Management Authority (GMA) is now effectively a tax payer funded and legislatively empowered gun lobby group. Its senior executives, are predominantly current or former members of major hunting and gun lobby organisations.
- Compliance relating to illegal hunting activity has been virtually non-existent. Breaches by hunters have been virtually ignored, while prosecutions have been directed at wildlife rescuers.
- The GMA has a history of challenging Freedom of Information (FOI) applications.
- The Andrews government has caved in to resistance to competency testing by hunting organisations as a requirement for gun ownership. Regardless of competency, Victorians can own up to 15 guns and apply for all game licences.
- An interim intervention order against a person is no longer necessarily a barrier to gun ownership. In the past, having such an intervention order would have prevented firearm ownership.
- The ‘genuine reasons’ for owning a firearm have been significantly watered down.
Premier Andrews’ pandering to the demands of the gun and hunting lobbies has gone hand in hand with the continued legalised slaughter of native wildlife species.
“Native water birds continue to be misgoverned as ‘game’ species to be annually maimed and killed for pleasure by boy-men playing dress-ups, running around in combat fatigues; Labor simply places their interest above that of the natural world”, Ms Nuske said.
At a time of climate change, ecological instability and declining water bird numbers, it is crudely disingenuous for the government to argue that the recreational killing of native water birds is ‘sustainable’ and ‘responsible’. “The Andrew’s government has become the willing mouthpiece for the hunting lobby. No native wildlife species should be governed as a ‘game’ species”, Ms Nuske stated.
Against the advice of Australia’s leading environmental scientists, Victoria’s iconic native apex predator, the Dingo, continues to be persecuted by the Andrews government. Although listed as a threatened native species under Victorian threatened species legislation, Victorian Labor has unprotected the dingo across large areas of Victoria, subjecting dingoes to a cruel death by poisoning and trapping, and encourages its destruction by recreational hunters for a bounty.
Ms Nuske stated, “where else in the world is a listed threatened native species permitted to be hunted for recreation and inhumanely killed for financial reward?
Ms Nuske further stressed:
“Yet, the government’s own data show that dingo predation of farm stock is negligible. It is simply political cowardice by Labor to attempt to disguise and justify the persecution of dingoes, including by recreational hunters, by referring to them as ‘wild dogs’, a term designed to keep the Victorian public ignorant and advised against by leading scientists”.
Necessary reforms
If elected to the Victorian parliament, I will work to:
- Immediately ensure that no listed threatened native species is subject to unprotection orders.
- Immediately cease the so-called ‘wild dog’ bounty.
- Make the imposition of bounties on the heads of wildlife, especially threatened native species illegal under the Victorian Wildlife legislation.
- Legislatively prohibit any native wildlife being governed as a ‘game’ species for recreational hunting purposes.
On election day, please vote Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate 1 to help me bring fundamental change for regional Victorians and for voiceless wildlife suffering horrendous cruelty under the Andrews Government.
Victorian Ministers Turning a Blind Eye to Hunting of a Listed Threatened Species – the Dingo.
As it stands, the Victorian policy and regulatory framework for the protection of Dingoes, Australia’s native apex terrestrial predator is a mess. It is ill-informed, environmentally destructive and is a product of governmental incompetence. Although listed as a threatened native animal under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, protective measures are so flawed and open to abuse that dingoes are hunted and, in practice, receive no more protection than they did prior to being listed as threatened in 2010. In Victoria the threatened species listing of the dingo is a cruel farce.
Environmental experts have repeatedly appealed to the Victorian Environment and Agriculture ministers to correct these deficiencies. In the opinion of AFCAD Inc., whether through ignorance or callous indifference, the relevant Victorian ministers have failed in their duty of care towards the Dingo and Victorian ecosystems, for which healthy dingo populations are important.
The responsible ministers are Lily D’Ambrosio (Environment) and Gayle Tierney (Agriculture).
Dingoes continue to be hunted in areas where they are legally protected – no effective compliance
Even within the limits of the currently inadequate policy framework for the protection of dingoes, the opportunities for abuse are obvious and remain unaddressed by the Victorian government.
Three key deficiencies with the current policy settings are:
- An ecologically meaningless distinction between pure dingoes (which are listed as wildlife in Victoria) and so-called ‘wild dogs’, (listed as an ‘established invasive pest to be killed where possible). Environmental experts have repeatedly warned the Victorian government that the term “wild dog” misleads the public into thinking that it is something other than dingoes being killed in Victoria and obscures the fact that these animals are ecologically significant. So-called ‘wild dogs’ in Victoria (and Australia) are either pure or predominantly dingo in their genetic make-up and not feral domestic dogs. The best available evidence shows that feral dogs are virtually absent in the wild in Australia.
- Even pure dingoes, which are listed as threatened native wildlife, are unprotected in parts of Victoria and have a government bounty on their heads (the ‘wild dog’ bounty – $120), even though government data show that farm stock loss to dingo predation is miniscule in Victoria and has been for over 20 years.
- Hunters are permitted to kill so-called ‘wild dogs’ over vast areas of public land, even though government websites warn that protected dingoes and so-called ‘wild dogs’ are usually indistinguishable. Hunters are able to kill dingoes with immunity in areas where even government controllers are not permitted to operate.
A case study
A recent dingo hunting (‘harvesting’ in the words of one hunter) posting from Victoria on social media illustrates the inadequacy of current laws and the potential for abuse of current policy.
The post is from two men who were hunting for deer on May 1, 2022. Having found no deer, they happened across, shot and skinned a mature male dingo (to take advantage of the Victorian ‘wild dog’ bounty). Although the two hunters involved indicate a knowledge of the Victorian law pertaining to the killing of dingoes and claimed that the kill was on private land with the authority of the landholder, the instance highlights the shortcomings of current laws and the failure of compliance oversight by government.
The still images below are from the Youtube video posted by the hunters.
Key points:
- There is no doubt in the minds of dingo experts who have seen this video that this is a pure dingo, a threatened native species.
- The Minister for the Environment should instruct DELWP to thoroughly investigate the above killing to ensure that it was legally compliant.
- Although the hunters claim that the destruction of this dingo occurred on private property, where even pure dingoes are currently unprotected wildlife, there is no credible compliance surrounding such claims at the point of presenting the scalp for the $120 bounty. In this respect, the bounty requirements can be easily defrauded.
- With the use of the GPS capability of many mobile phones, photographic evidence which includes time and precise spatial coordinates could be made compulsory. However, this is not currently a requirement.
- The current bounty arrangements encourage anti-environmental attitudes; the activity is referred to by one hunter as wildlife ‘harvesting’ – a 19th Century attitude.
- The Victorian government’s stated reason for the unprotection of dingoes is to protect farm stock from predation. Yet, the government’s own data show that stock loss from ‘wild dog’ predation is miniscule and has been so for at least 20 years. There is no credible case, therefore, for the unprotection of dingoes, or for the bounty in Victoria.
- The decision for dingo unprotection, for the refusal to include dingo dominant hybrids as wildlife, and for a ‘wild dog’ bounty (which included pure dingoes in some areas) is purely ideological and panders to inherited anti-dingo prejudice, which still exists amongst the rural extreme right wing of politics. The government’s own website admits that dingoes and so-called ‘wild dogs’ are visually indistinguishable in the field.
- The current laws clearly subordinate the well-being of threatened species and ecological health to the demands of the hunting lobby.
Necessary reforms
If elected, I will stridently ensure the following reforms are in place:
- Immediately ensure that no listed threatened native species is subject to unprotection.
- Immediately cease the so-called ‘wild dog’ bounty. Make the imposition of bounties on the heads of threatened native species illegal in Victoria under the Victorian Wildlife Act (which is currently being reviewed).
- Grant wildlife status to ecologically functioning dingo dominant hybrids.
- As a minimum, the responsible ministers should ensure that verifiable evidence of the time and location of kill are a requirement for receipt of the ‘wild dog’ bounty.
To ensure the necessary reform to protect the threatened species the dingo, please vote Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate Bendigo West NO 1.
12 November 2022
Victorian Environment and Agriculture Ministers continue to place a bounty on the head of a threatened native species – the dingo
Victorian Environment and Agriculture Ministers continue to place a bounty on the head of a threatened native species – the dingo
The Victorian government recently announced a digitised, streamlined administrative process for ‘wild dog’ bounty applications and payment to hunters. These changes are clearly a cost saving device. The current bounty for so-called ‘wild dog’ scalps is $120
Victorian Environment and Agriculture Ministers continue to place a bounty on the head of a threatened native species – the dingoThe Victorian government announced a digitised, streamlined administrative process for ‘wild dog’ bounty applications and payment to hunters. These changes are clearly a cost saving device. The current bounty for so-called ‘wild dog’ scalps is $120.
The ‘refinement’ and continuation of the ‘wild dog’ bounty is a gross waste of public funds, as environmentally harmful, as unnecessary to the protection of farm stock, and as a policy that deceives the Victorian public. Rather than streamlining the administration of the bounty, it should be abandoned. Not to do so is serious misgovernance.
The ‘wild dog’ myth
As confirmed by recent ground-breaking genetic research, so-called ‘wild dogs’ in Victoria are dingoes, a native wildlife taxon. Incredibly, the bounty takes no account of the fact that dingoes and dingo dominant hybrids are considered by Australia’s pre-eminent ecologists important for ecosystem health, and pure dingoes are listed as a threatened native species in Victoria under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.
2021 research found that:…feral dogs have not established a self-sustaining population in the wild and that inter-breeding between dingoes and dogs may occur infrequently.
Despite historical domestic dog introgression, the dingo population maintains a dingo dominant identity, even in southeastern Australia…
It is further possible that widespread lethal control programs have increased the likelihood of dingo x dog hybridisation events and facilitating the spread of introgressed dog genes into the wider dingo population. (K. Cairns, M. Crowther, B. Nesbitt and M. Letnic, ‘The myth of wild dogs in Australia; are there any out there?’, Australian Mammalogy, CSIRO Publishing, 2021)
Against the best scientific advice, not only does the Victorian government persist in denying wildlife status to ecologically important dingo dominant hybrids, but, perversely, places a bounty on the head of both them and pure dingoes, even though the latter listed as a threatened native taxon in Victoria.
The ‘wild dog’ bounty is an invitation to fraud
Presently, recreational hunters are permitted to kill ecologically important dingo dominant hybrids (deemed ‘wild dogs’) over large areas of public estate beyond the specified areas of the state where the bounty applies. As a result, hunters can legally kill so-called ‘wild dogs’ (in reality including pure dingoes listed as threatened wildlife) in areas where the bounty does not apply, but they can then nevertheless easily and fraudulently present such scalps for bounty collection. The streamlining of the bounty arrangements will simply further facilitate such abuse.
Farm stock losses to predation exaggerated
Stock losses to dingo predation have been consistently exaggerated by the Victorian government and state Agriculture authorities, as well as extremists within the farming lobby (reflecting a backward colonial mindset).
Yet, official Victorian government stock loss data (obtained by AFCAD Inc. through Freedom of Information legislation) show that stock loss rates to ’wild dog’ predation in Victoria are tiny and have been for a long time. Departmental statements fail to inform the public (and perhaps even the Environment and Agriculture Ministers) that the absolute and relative stock losses, as a share of the Victorian sheep flock, from alleged ‘wild dog’ predation have remained at a very low level for 20 years.
In broad terms, sheep losses per million of the Victorian sheep flock over the past 20 years have varied within a range of between 100 and 200 sheep lost per million sheep. In absolute and relative terms, the losses are negligible.
The bounty is simply unjustified in terms of farm stock protection and must be condemned for the public deception it relies upon and the ecological damage it incurs.
The Victorian Environment and Agriculture ministers must now acknowledge and take responsibility for the gross policy inconsistencies surrounding the misidentification of dingoes as ‘wild dogs’, and for the environmental damage incurred within Victorian ecosystems through the ‘wild dog’ bounty. The buck stops with them.
A particularly disturbing aspect of the perpetuation of the ‘wild dog’ bounty is that it encourages recreational hunters to kill dingoes in the mistaken belief that they are helping to remove an exotic invasive pest.
They are in fact killing Victoria’s native apex predator and harming Victorian ecosystems. The Victorian government has been repeatedly appealed to by leading environmental scientists about the environmental harm incurred by current policy.
If elected, I will be calling upon the Victorian Government
* Immediately discontinue the ‘wild dog’ bounty;
* Immediately discontinue use of the term ‘wild dog’ as ecologically meaningless and recognize dingo dominant hybrids as wildlife
*Remove the existing wildlife unprotection order for dingoes
* Ban all hunting of dingoes in Victoria
* Send a clear message to hunters and hunting organisations that dingoes are protected wildlife and impose significant penalties for the hunting and killing of dingoes.
The Ministers for the Environment and Agriculture can no longer claim ignorance on this issue.
Please Vote Marilyn Nuske, Independent Candidate Bendigo West District NO 1 for Dingo protection and to ensure Dingoes do not fall into the category of species that we should have saved yet have become extinct, due to ignorance and inaction.
10 November 2022
Where is the Labor Government’s Biodiversity Policy?
While our national and Victorian ecosystems continue to degrade, with ongoing wildlife species loss, the Victorian government insults the Victorian public by dressing up old policy as something new and failing to fund genuine environmental protection.
For example, in June the Victorian Minister for the Environment, Lily D’Ambrosio, announced $10 million dollars in support of the Victorian Biodiversity 2037 policy. This, she boasts is part of $560 million spent by the Victorian Labor government on biodiversity since 2014.
This may sound like a lot of money, but compared with the seriousness, magnitude and urgency of the environmental crisis, as spelled out by Australia’s leading ecologists, $10 million is peanuts. Some of Australia’s foremost environmental scientists now identify the current lack of political will by governments to address the environmental decline and wildlife loss as the foremost threat to biodiversity. Our scientists know what to do, but are starved of the funding to act by witless and uncaring governments.
The reality is that biodiversity protection and rehabilitation is a lowest order priority for the Victorian Labor government. Sadly, Victorian voters are faced with a race to the bottom between Labor and the Coalition on environmental stewardship.
One prominent ecologist recently stated that: “…we must… invest what’s actually required – billions, not breadcrumbs”. The Victorian Minister’s recent announcement of $560 million over the past 8 years is simply insulting – on average $70 million per year. This is window dressing and truly pathetic.
Rather than recycle old policy, Victorian Labor must give Victorian voters informed, up-to-date policy choices. However, where is Victorian Labor’s 2022 biodiversity policy platform? The most recent policy on its website is for 2018 – from the last state election. Is Labor afraid to expose its latest environmental policy to public scrutiny in an election context? I believe so.
On election day, please vote Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate 1 for Bendigo West to help bring fundamental change to protect our voiceless wildlife and precious environmental inheritance.
21 October 2022
A Plan for Affordable, Quality Public Housing for Regional Victoria
Low-income households in regional Victoria are facing a market failure in the provision of quality, affordable housing.
If elected to the Victorian Parliament, I will push for the adoption of an affordable plan to help correct this situation by ensuring that there is a compulsory public housing component to every new housing subdivision in regional Victoria.
At present in Victoria, private developers, local and the state government build necessary urban infrastructure as part of new suburban subdivisions – roads, drainage, street lighting, utility connections and parkland. At the completion of housing developments, this infrastructure becomes a public good, which is owned, maintained and managed by government on behalf of the public.
Under my plan, a proportion of the houses built would also be passed on to the Victorian government to be managed as affordable public housing. The proportion of new housing given over to public housing would vary according to local low-income housing need, but may be as high as 10%.
How would this be paid for?
At present, broadacre landholders, whose land is typically rezoned from agricultural to residential to facilitate suburban residential development make a massive windfall profit. Fortunes fall to the hands of a relatively small number of broadacre landholders whose land is rezoned for residential development. This is because property developers compete with each other, bidding up the cost of the broadacre land to very high levels. The high cost of this land is passed on by developers to the end user – rural families who wish to buy a residential lot.
This long-standing practice has benefited only a small number of lucky landholders, who often become multi-millionaires overnight, at the expense of thousands of families seeking to buy a home, including low-income persons and households.
At long last, the Victorian government has announced that it will introduce a ‘Windfall Gains Tax’ from July 1 2023. However, it is seriously inadequate, because:
- The Wildfall Gains Tax revenue is not specifically linked to the provision of public housing in new residential subdivisions. The Victorian government intends that the tax will reduce its current level of contribution to residential development.
- The Windfall Gains Tax rate is far too low. The most widely applicable tax rate foreshadowed is only 50%. I will work within government to ensure that this rate is significantly increased.
- The taxation rate is not to be applied to the astronomically high prices often actually paid by developers to landholders. By contrast, the Victorian government intends that the tax will only apply to a relatively small fraction of this purchase value (set by the Victorian Valuer General).
Unfortunately, the Victorian government seems more interested in looking after the interests of wealthy and propertied elites, rather than low-income rural families. Its approach to the tax is poorly focussed and weak.
If elected, I will fight to ensure that the Windfall Gains Tax is given real teeth and that it is used to provide decent, low-cost housing for low-income rural Victorians. My plan would see a rapid expansion in the supply of quality, affordable public housing, at little additional expense to the Victorian government and the majority of tax payers.
On election day, please vote Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate 1 to help bring fundamental change for regional Victorians.
Authorised by Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate Northern Victoria Region 8715 Midland Highway Barkers Creek Victoria
13 October 2022
Progressive Farming Practices Replace Victorian Cruelty
I would like to make it clear that I am in no way connected to the new group Companions and Pets, nor Animal Justice Party.
The new group Companions and Pets, is launching a political party “to take on Animal Justice Party”. The new group seems to be grounded in agriculture and dog breeders, including greyhounds for greyhound racing.
I am running as an Independent Candidate for Northern Victoria Region, the Upper House, not just to give a strong Voice in Parliament for rural disadvantage including Social and Public Housing, but Native and Iconic Wildlife, not domestic pets. I will be announcing a Public and Social Housing Scheme shortly that I will be introducing into Parliament at the first possible time, if elected.
I am also running on a platform of Native and Iconic Wildlife conservation which includes Native Dingoes. Many farmers nowadays are in fact pro Dingo, for example the group Landholders for Dingoes who believe Dingoes give stock protection from predation by foxes and feral dogs, and have abandoned the use of any lethal control for that reason.
Dingo groups and organisations that I am connected with want to work with farmers. The simplistic inherited image of the dingo as an “invasive pest” is being superseded by a body of independent scientific research which has identified the dingo as crucial to ecosystem health and resilience.
We are at an historic crossroad in time, where use of 1080 and other poisons must be abandoned to be replaced with alternatives, for example compensation to farmers for any genuine stock loss to dingo predation, greater use of guardian animals, improved fencing including electric fencing that will keep feral dogs at bay.
Cruel 1080 poison must be left behind as it has too many negatives in the environment, not limited to Dingo destruction but collateral destruction of raptor, kookaburra, lizards, goanna and domestic dogs. We need to replace poisons with progressive farming practices.
In Victoria, Dingoes are a threatened native species, protected under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.
Authorised by Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate Northern Victoria Region 8715 Midland Highway Barkers Creek Victoria
11 October 2022
Encourage Eco Tourism to Victoria with the end of shameful Duck Shooting
Duck shooting is a cruel and barbaric remnant activity that Daniel Andrews Government are loathe to let go of. Tourism for Victoria? Welcome to The Cruelty State – opposed by those who live in the Garden State – Victorians.
“Come see what the choice really means
Daniel Andrews’ comment that Victorians are ″free to make the choice″ to kill our native birdlife for fun (or play golf) demonstrates ignorance, negligence and lack of compassion towards animals, the environment and regional communities. I invite him to come to our property during duck-shooting season to see the cruelty, disruption, destruction and pollution our natural wetlands and community experience. ” Liz Filmer Sale The Age
A Vote for Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate Northern Victoria Region No 1 will be a Vote for a strong and experienced Voice in Parliament to end this cruel unwanted passtime.
Lets bring back environmentally kind Eco-Tourism to this Garden State.
3 October 2022
Overcoming the shameful legacy of Indigenous and anti-dingo prejudice –Is the Victorian Labor Government serious about reconciliation?
Today Marilyn Nuske stated: “The Victorian government now stands at an historic crossroads concerning the misgovernance of Victorian ecosystems and our native apex predator – the dingo.”
The government can follow the best scientific advice and recognise historical mistakes through ensuring a fundamental policy reset to ensure that dingoes, crucial to ecosystem stability and health, are protected and governed responsibly.
Or, it can continue with an inherited colonial bias, which sees dingoes mischaracterised as ‘invasive’ vermin to be killed for poison industry profit and to pander to irrational inherited prejudice within the farming sector.
Marilyn Nuske also stated that: “The historical demonisation of the dingo has been closely associated with the onslaught on Indigenous identity and culture. The inherited anti-dingo mindset became entrenched as European colonisers rapaciously transformed an unfamiliar Australian environment for sheep grazing, with little understanding of, or concern for, Australian ecosystems and the indigenous people who lived within them and cared for them.”
However, in recent years, Indigenous Victorian groups have begun to demand the return of culturally significant native animals to their traditional lands, including the dingo.
In negotiating a joint management plan for the Gariwerd National Park (Grampians), a clear aspiration was voiced by the Indigenous communities involved for the reintroduction of culturally significant wildlife species that have been lost through colonisation. In this, the dingo figured prominently. Accordingly, the draft management plan for the Gariwerd lands stated:
The rich biodiversity and intact ecosystems managed under regimes of Aboriginal land management have unequivocally been degraded since colonial invasion … including…
unregulated hunting and poisoning of native species impacting agriculture including native grazing fauna and top-order predators such as Wedge-tailed Eagle and Dingo (p. 56) (Emphasis added)
Yet, despite giving lip service to taking Indigenous aspirations seriously, the Victorian Labor government’s final Gariwerd management plan failed to include a positive agenda for reintroduction of the dingo – in Marilyn Nuske’s opinion “a slap in the face to the Indigenous groups involved”.
Marilyn Nuske considers that, in undermining the Indigenous aspiration for dingo reintroduction to the Gariwerd lands, to appease reactionary elements of the Liberal Party and farming lobby, “the Victorian Labor government has, in effect, attempted to enforce a politically expedient limit upon the legitimate cultural boundaries of indigenous aspirations and culture”. Ms Nuske stated:
“It is truly disappointing to see that the Victorian Labor government appears more at ease with pandering to the most backward 19th Century attitudes still found amongst the Victorian farming sector, and reactionary elements within the Liberal Party, than acting to correct environmental mismanagement and a grievous historical wrong to Indigenous Victorians.” Marilyn Nuske stated: “Through excluding dingo reintroduction from the Greater Gariwerd Management Plan (for the next 15 years – which is code for burying the issue for good), serious doubt is now cast over the integrity of the Victorian Labor government’s broader Indigenous reconciliation agenda, including its Treaty process.”
On election day, please vote Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate 1 to help me bring fundamental change for regional Victorians and for voiceless wildlife suffering cruelty and threats under the Andrews Government.
Authorised by Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate Northern Victoria Region 8715 Midland Highway Barkers Creek Victoria
1 October 2022
Lead Pollution in Victorian Wetlands still Under Scrutiny
Documents recently obtained by Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting, through FOI (Freedom of Information), show lead levels in ducks “well above” food safety guidelines, at four of 23 public (duck shooting) waterways around Victoria: Serpentines Creek (Western Vic), Richardson’s Lagoon (North), Heart Morass and Macleod Morass (Gippsland).
In 2018, when shooting ranges in regional Victoria were closed for a “clean up” to avoid risk of lead contamination to nearby waterways, I raised the issue of residual lead pellet contaminating wetlands, with EPA and whether EPA had conducted testing. They had not, and admitted, the issue had never before been raised.
Subsequently 15 wetlands were closed for testing, with a report after many months, lead levels were “not of concern”.
It is of no surprise to me now that, levels of lead contimation are found in ducks, foraging from floorbeds of wetland grasses.
I will be following up this issue further.
Duck shooting is a cruel and archaic passtime that is well overdue of being closed down.
Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate Northern Victoria Region
Authorised by Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate Northern Victoria Region 8715 Midland Highway Barkers Creek Victoria
30 September 2022
PARKS VICTORIA CRUEL SHOOTING OF BOGONG BRUMBIES
Victoria: The Cruelty State
Brumby advocates yesterday announced the discovery of 20 to 40 dead Brumbies in the Bogong High Plains. The Brumbies had all been shot, allegedly by Parks Victoria, as part of a management plan published in December 2021.
The Brumbies covered in branches in the ritualistic manner adopted by Parks Victoria used in recent shootings of Brumbies in Barmah and Limestone Road Benambra, were part of the surviving 65 Brumbies living peacefully in the Bogong High Plains.
The management plan calls for rehoming as a priority, yet approved rehomers report they were not told of any change in the rehoming plan. They are outraged at the unnecessary deaths and callous cruelty.
Bogong High Plains Brumbies are bloodline descendants of “war horses” and culturally significant in Australia, an iconic horse for lighthorsemen and return soldiers.
130,000 Brumbies were sent overseas to war and only one returned, “Sandy”, today immortalised in bronze statues.
The cruel Andrews Government decision to sniper shoot these Heritage iconic Brumbies in remote and rough terrain is irreversable and will never be forgotten by pro Brumby advocates and lighthorsemen alike.
A similar discovery was made a month ago of a mob found in Limestone Road Benambra, close to Limestone road.
One of the mob, a lactating in foal mare with foal at foot suffered a single gun shot to the stomach, involuntarily aborted and would have suffered a long drawn out death.
Forensic photos released indicate the mares gums were a very flushed pink in colour, confirming she did not die immediately but would have suffered a long drawn out death.
The mob comprised 5 Brumbies in total, and all suffered gun shots to various parts of the body indicating none were shot in an humane way and in accordance with Standard Operating Procedures.
The cruel deaths of these Brumbies has been raised with the Victorian Ombudsman and RSPCA who are conducting an investigation into the cruelty of the deaths and a report will be lodged about the shooting of the Bogong Brumbies which also appear to have been shot in similar ways.
Brumbies are a culturally iconic species and when elected I will do everything I can to ensure a credible population count is completed, using a method that will report accurately Brumby numbers.
I will also lobby for the introduction of an ovderdue Bill for Legislation that will recognise the Heritage value of Brumbies and protect that value . Legislation should include non lethal management, while taking into account any fragile environmental issues.
Authorised by Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate Northern Victoria Region 8715 Midland Highway Barkers Creek Victoria
19 September 2022
I’m running as an Independent Candidate Northern Victoria Region. Working as a Lawyer in sole practice in regional Victoria for over a decade has given me an insight into the real issues facing regional Victorians, whether it be family law, financial, employment, health, housing or day to day issues.
My love of country life coupled with my legal qualifications and experience underpin and supports my work in wildlife conservation, which includes acting as legal advisor to wildlife organisations, drafting submissions advocating for wildlife, a legislative Bill and countless ePetitions for various conservation organisations, and working closely with Members of Parliament.
The Andrew’s Government’s Failures include public housing, emergency housing and health services. Daniel Andrew’s Labor Government has failed regional Victorians in many fundamental ways, especially with regard to a lack of public housing, resulting in inadequate public housing for the homeless. Similarly, emergency housing for women and children at risk of family violence needs greater funding and resources to meet the needs of regional communities.
The lack of housing has forced many women to remain living at risk with their children or older women who are unable to enter the housing market through no fault of their own being forced to accept sub-standard accommodation.
Youth homelessness in regional towns has not been addressed and has been an unaddressed issue for many years.
Under the Andrews Government, the Victorian health system is now broken. We need to remember that Daniel Andrews was Health Minister not that long ago. The lack of a functioning ambulance service for every day Australians, with people waiting for hours to get to a hospital and receive proper health care, is unacceptable and avoidable. The lack of hospital beds has led to people waiting in emergency for hours until a hospital bed can be found, leaving injured suffering and in pain, and very ill without treatment.
Australian Wildlife
The Andrews Government has a scandalous record of grossly inadequate Wildlife protection. One only has to consider only 20 per cent of the state’s 2000 threatened species have had action plans developed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, according to the 2021 report from the Victorian Auditor-General.
DELWP acknowledged that it does not have the resources to complete comprehensive up-to-date action statements for all species in a timely manner, as required by the Flora Fauna Guarantee Act.
After decades of working at the workface in Australian Wildlife conservation organisations, I am very conscious of the widespread, but avoidable cruelty inflicted on our native Australian Wildlife, the risks of extinction of some species, and the reckless destruction of habitat.
The cruel commercial culling of kangaroos for body parts and flesh for human consumption in both Australia and lucrative overseas market, is one example. The Labor government has misled Victorians about kangaroo culling and the cruelty it involves from day one. Originally, Labor promoted the use of kangaroos carcases for pet food that were killed to protect farm damage – to avoid ‘waste’. This has now surreptitiously morphed into a cruel and large-scale private commercial exploitation of a native animal and shows no signs of stopping. Of course, this was Labor’s intention all along.
When elected I will work hard to end this cruel commercial exploitation of a native wildlife species. This must be nipped in the bud; where will it stop?
Australian wildlife is inherently valuable and no native wildlife should be killed for commercial or recreational purposes.
Duck Shooting
Another Labor government failure is the relentless and cruel annual slaughter of native ducks through a mindless bloody hunt by private shooters, often leaving maimed ducks to die a cruel death or to be rescued by volunteers at personal risk from shooters
Contrary to Labor government claims, duck hunting is not sustainable or humanely supervised. The Game Management Authority acts to protect hunters, not native waterbird species. When elected I will make it a priority to finally end the cruel duck shooting.
The outrageous killing of our native apex land predator the dingo with cruel 1080 poison and the stripping of their skin for pelts for a mere bounty to be paid to hunters, is another Andrews government failure.
It was recognised by 26 of Australia’s leading environmental scientists that dingoes are crucial to a well-balanced biodiversity and repeatedly recommended at both Federal and State levels that the destruction of dingoes must stop and the use of 1080 poison for stock loss to predation be abandoned.
Dingoes Native apex land predator
Dingoes in Victoria are a protected species under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act and their unnecessary destruction is an act of environmental vandalism.
The Victorian government’s own data show that Victorian farm stock loss to dingoes is negligible. Labor’s continuation of the so-called ‘wild dog’ bounty and aerial baiting for dingoes is a continuation of policies introduced by the previous Coalition government; why should Labor be so reckless in persisting with such policies?
When elected, I will work hard to ensure that the legal protection already given to dingoes is actually implemented and respected and that hybrid dingoes which perform the same ecological function as non-hybrid dingoes are also protected at Law.
I will encourage development of a communication bridge between agriculture and the environment and measures to support farmers in a meaningful way that will help bring to an end forever the need for use of poisons in the environment. Poisons manufacturers should play no role in this bridge for recovery.
Culturally Iconic Brumbies
Cruel Shooting is Not Management of Introduced Species
And the gross cruelty imposed by the Andrews government upon introduced species such as the iconic wild horse, the Australian Brumby must be stopped.
While management and control has been recommended to protect fragile ecosystems, gross and barbaric cruelty should not be a factor.
Stakeholders argue that Brumby population counts are overstated, and when elected I will lobby for better ways of counting Brumby populations other than distance modelling and encourage introduction of a Bill for Legislation to ensure Brumby protection without cruelty while ensuring ecosystems are protected wherever necessary.
Please Vote Marilyn Nuske 1 on Election Day
This Page Authorised by Marilyn Nuske Independent Candidate Northern Victoria Region 8715 Midland Highway Barkers Creek Victoria