Making a noise about silencers

Farmers are acutely aware of the severe impact rabbits have and their threat to Tasmania’s farming communities. They're causing extensive damage to crops, pastures, and native ecosystems. 

Their unchecked population growth leads to soil degradation, increased competition for feed, and costly losses for producers already facing economic pressures.

For over 15 years, TasFarmers has been lobbying successive state governments to allow the use of sound suppressors for pest management and crop protection. Now, wider community pressure is reaching a crescendo for action, and changes in policy to support modern control methods are needed.

In 2011, the Tasmanian Government released the final report on the Alternatives to 1080 Program, a $4 million program to accelerate research into, and implementation of, alternative strategies for control of damage by browsing wildlife on private forests and agricultural land. This program included a trial of firearm sound suppressors (silencers) which were found to improve the effectiveness of shooting as a control effort.

We acknowledge the community’s concerns about who has access to suppressors and the need to control their use. However, with a regulated commercial model and the right controls in place, suppressors would serve as a valuable tool for producers rather than a widely available piece of equipment available to just anyone.

Beyond shooting, farmers have few options to control the rapidly growing rabbit population. The calicivirus is a proven biosecurity measure, and despite previous shortages, the government now has stock available. 

As farmers and rural communities face mounting financial and environmental pressures, along with the high costs of other control measures, there is a strong argument that conditions may now be suitable for the targeted release of the virus.

As farmers seek to fulfil their biosecurity duties without access to effective, affordable, and timely control measures, they are fighting a losing battle. The question remains: How much longer will policymakers wait before taking meaningful action?

If we are serious about supporting Tasmania’s farmers, addressing the rabbit crisis must be a priority. A coordinated, science-backed approach, one that includes virus releases, modern shooting techniques, and adequate resourcing will be essential to protecting both livelihoods and meeting the industry's goal to increase the annual value of the agriculture sector to 10 billion by 2050.  

TasFarmers, in their role as a state farming organisation, continues to advocate the need for sound suppressors and we implore the state government to act on the important issue of allowing sound suppressors for pest control and crop protection purposes as they are already being used in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.