The Flaw in NSW’s New Feral Pig Pilot Program

If you’ve been following agricultural news in NSW over the last week or two, you’ve probably seen the headlines regarding the state government’s new feral pig control pilot program in Walgett.

Under this new scheme, the government is issuing mandatory General Biosecurity Directions that compel private and public landholders to participate in coordinated pig control (baiting, trapping, aerial and ground shooting). If a landholder fails to comply? They face fines of up to $220,000 for individuals and $440,000 for corporations.

Now, let’s get one thing straight upfront: as someone who runs a professional contract shooting business, you’d think I’d be quietly celebrating this news. After all, if farmers are legally forced to cull pigs under threat of financial ruin, my phone should be ringing off the hook, right?

Wrong. Even though my business stands to make money from landholders needing pest control services, I ethically and practically disagree with this approach.

Here is why this policy creates an impossible catch-22 for NSW farmers—and why throwing fines at the problem won't solve the feral pig crisis.

Squeezed From Both Ends

The fundamental flaw in this policy is that it completely ignores what the state government has been doing with firearm legislation over the past year.

Following the post-Bondi gun law reforms, primary producers are facing tighter restrictions than ever before:

• Hard Caps on Firearms: Farmers are now subject to strict caps (a maximum of 10 firearms per primary producer), regardless of the size, terrain, or multi-property scale of their operations.
• Magazine Limits: Reducing magazine capacities to 5–10 rounds takes away the exact capacity needed when tackling a mob of 30 fast-moving feral pigs in dense scrub.
• Reclassifications: Shifting common action types (like straight-pulls and lever-releases) into Category C makes it harder for everyday landholders to access the efficient tools they’ve relied on for years.
• Access to Category D Firearms: While technically possible, it is practically impossible for farmers in NSW to get category D firearms, which are required for serious feral pig control. 

So, let's look at the logic here: The government restricts the primary producer's ability to own, store, and use the most effective tools for pest control, and then turns around and says, "If you don't control the pigs on your property, we're going to fine you $220,000."

You cannot disarm or handicap the workforce and then punish them for not getting the job done.

Farmers Aren't the Problem

Anyone who spends 5 minutes talking to a property owner in regional NSW knows that farmers don't need to be threatened into controlling feral pigs.

Pigs ruin crops, destroy expensive fencing, pollute water supplies, tear up pastures, and carry diseases that threaten livestock. Farmers already spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours every year trying to keep pig numbers down. They don't lack the will; they lack time, resources, proper coordination from surrounding public lands, and now, access to key equipment.

Threatening hard-working primary producers with life-altering fines when they are already struggling with input costs, weather volatility, and tight margins isn't biosecurity management—it's heavy-handed overreach.

What Actually Works

As NSW Farmers and local regional councils have pointed out, the real bottleneck in feral pig management has always been coordination and public land management.

Feral pigs don't care about fence lines. A farmer can spend $10,000 clearing their property, but if the adjoining National Park, forestry reserve, or absentee landholder property isn't doing any control work, those paddocks will be re-infested within a month.

If the state government wants to win the war on feral pigs, threatening farmers with $220k fines isn't the answer. Here’s what actually works:

1. Funded, Coordinated Landscape Operations: Providing free grain, bait, and subsidised aerial/ground shooting programs that bring entire valleys together at the same time.
2. Addressing Public Land Breeding Grounds: Ensuring government departments take equal responsibility for controlling pests on state-owned land.
3. Support, Not Prosecution: Working with farmers to identify where professional contractors and volunteer hunters can step in to fill the gap, rather than treating landholders like criminals.

Final Thoughts

At AusTiger Conservation, we built our reputation on working alongside landholders as partners, not as a tick-box compliance exercise forced on them by a government mandate.

Feral pigs are a massive threat to Australian agriculture and native biosecurity—there’s no argument there. But penalising farmers who are already doing the heavy lifting, while simultaneously restricting their access to firearms, is a recipe for failure.

We need real coordination, proper funding, and common-sense legislation—not astronomical fines.