Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2025L00287:reg:3:p80
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2025L00287
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 80/276)
Character Range: 315517–319354

previous plan, an analysis was undertaken of the adequacy of the major management programs that were being implemented in Norfolk Island National Park and Norfolk Island reserves at the time (Director of National Parks 2021).
A decision support tool (Di Fonzo et al. 2017) was applied to assess the outcomes of five management programs (Table 23).
Table 23 Management programs assessed
Program                                                                      2021 level
Rodent control                                                               Baiting half the rodent network once per month in Norfolk Island National Park (NINP).
                                                                             Norfolk Island Regional Council (NIRC) baiting and monitoring in public reserves (60 days/yr).
Cat control                                                                  15 days of control each month in the park.
                                                                             Subsidised de-sexing clinic.
                                                                             150 days/yr trapping, monitoring, euthanising by NIRC.
Weed management                                                              7ha in the park each year and 120 days/year of control of mainly roadside weeds by NIRC.
Restoration of native vegetation                                             Growing of plants, revegetation (including site preparation), fencing to exclude livestock.
                                                                             Nursery manager working three days per week.
                                                                             Over 3000 plantings and restoration sites maintained as best as possible.
                                                                             Limited resources spent on this action outside the park apart from action by community groups and private landholders.
Management of invasive birds and nesting sites for threatened native birds   Approximately 1500 chickens per year controlled.
                                                                             Three volunteer trips to Phillip Island per year to control swamphens, with approximately 4.5 hours per week of culling on Norfolk Island.
                                                                             Each year, approximately 6 nest boxes placed and up to 5 repaired.

The decision support tool uses an expert elicitation approach and requires assessors to estimate the likely outcome for a species—in terms of a rate of population change and/or the resulting number of mature individuals in the population—under the scenario of each program (Table 23) being implemented, and a scenario of no management.
A total of 14 people with direct experience in research and/or management of Norfolk Island threatened species took part as assessors in the expert elicitation process. Not all species were assessed by all assessors. The time horizon considered in assessments was set to 10 years. Because of the large number of threatened plant species to be considered, these were grouped by growth form and threat status. Fauna species were assessed individually.
For each combination of scenario (no management vs management) and species (or species group), assessors provided best-case and worst-case estimates for each value, as well as a confidence rating. With this information, the tool calculates the cost-effectiveness of the suite of candidate management actions. The tool assumes two things: 1) all species under consideration are equally important; and 2) the goal is to minimise the number of extinctions over the long term.
The tool uses 'expected extant years' as the measure of benefit. The IUCN status definitions used are listed in Table