Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01747:reg:4:p40
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01747
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 40/80)
Character Range: 122069–126238

period 2024-2029
1.10                                                                                 Maintain and enhance linkages between this feral cat threat abatement plan and those for other vertebrate pests (e.g. foxes), and ensure oversight and coordination of feral pest management through the Australian Pest Animal Strategy.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Medium     Low             Commonwealth                                                                                                                                                  Starting in the period 2024-2029
1.11                                                                                 Align management plans for Commonwealth land with this threat abatement plan, to ensure that cat management in these areas (protected areas and other land uses) is exemplary.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             High       Low             Commonwealth                                                                                                                                                  Starting in the period 2024-2029

     8.2 Objective 2. Plan and implement cat management programs within an evidence-based framework, and use this to help maintain broad stakeholder and community support.

     Rationale

Actions within this objective are foundational for many other objectives. Objective 2 seeks to ensure that cat management meets the guiding principles of this threat abatement plan; in other words, that:

       * actions are prioritised to try to achieve the most substantial and lasting conservation benefits;
       * actions are evidence-based and justified (effective, humane, sustainable); and,

       * management is coupled with monitoring to guide management adaptation and reporting.

This objective therefore includes actions relating to the use, collection and interpretation of evidence associated with management programs. It places emphasis on measuring success in terms of outcomes for species recovery, guided by overall humaneness, rather than on extent of activities or numbers of feral cats controlled, and the management priorities are guided by the threat feral cats represent to biodiversity values rather than just their abundance / distribution in the landscape. It also seeks to ensure that appropriate information is readily available to those seeking to undertake cat management, and that many of the current constraints identified during this plan's development that impede such management can be overcome or reduced.

This objective also seeks to identify and prioritise islands, sites and regions for cat management based on their biodiversity values and the extent to which cats may impact those values, and to help identify spatial variation in the optimal modes of feral cat control. Such prioritisation is consistent with the Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032, which identifies a set of 20 priority places for which management can achieve significant conservation benefits for Australian biodiversity. Cat management is an important issue in many of these priority places.

Given the diverse relationships between people and cats, it is essential to maintain broad public understanding of the impacts of cats, and of the conservation, human health and economic outcomes that can be achieved with effective cat management. Therefore, this objective includes actions to ensure that information about cat impacts and management can be shared transparently with the broader community, so that social licence for cat management is maintained.

     Performance Criteria

      Table 4 Objective 2. Performance Criteria

Objective 2.