The push to borrow money to erect exclusion fences is putting the standards of fencing in the spotlight.
In the wake of a recent visit by Premier Annastacia Palaszcuk to the central west to highlight the $18m fencing loan organised between the Longreach Regional Council and the Treasury Corporation, South West NRM chairman Mark O’Brien is calling for best practice regulation to accompany that money.
He has warned the Premier not to risk throwing away taxpayer dollars on wild dog fences that can be dug under.
South West NRM is one of the partners rolling out the joint government $26 million investment in wild dog fences, and was one of the innovators in the early stages of the fencing strategy, building some of the first fences around Morven to help the sheep industry there.
Mr O’Brien said they learned many lessons doing it – the need for an apron, a height of 1.5m, and barb top and bottom.
As well as wanting to help new players learn from their experience, Mr O’Brien’s concern now is that as landholders embrace the benefits of fencing and seek funding by means other than managed programs, there is no regulatory mechanism in place.
“We urge the government to ensure measures are in place that demonstrate the integrity of fencing and long term maintenance to deliver the full benefits of their investments.
“This is important to us, as poor fencing has far reaching consequences.”
He said that in the rush to put fences up, eyes may have been taken off some of the standards.
“People are commenting about fencing standards they’re seeing, but that may not have been funded with public money.”
Mr O’Brien said the first fences put up under the South West NRM Collaborative Area Management project had deliberately trialed a range of standards to test theories.
“People came out and inspected the standards and changes were made in places,” he said.
Since 2013, SW NRM’s CAM project has supported 22 groups, involving over 180 landholders, to construct 4000 kilometres of exclusion fencing.
“The government’s investment will protect over 3.5 million hectares of agricultural land in the south west so this is an absolutely vast project and we want to get it right,” Mr O’Brien said.
“It’s a scheme that has the potential to save the bush and we are over the moon the Premier wants to fund it so aggressively.
“But the success of the project hinges on the integrity of the fences and a strict program of compulsory maintenance by graziers.
“Our monitoring and experience shows the importance of the 30cm apron on the ground to ensure dogs can’t scratch through at the base of the fence. We are also stringent on other design elements such as 1.5 metre height, rigid knot hinge joint wire and barbed wire on the top and bottom.”
“We also require landholder groups to maintain the fence for 20 years.”