2026-05-27
ACT Greens Leader, Jo Clay, will today table a petition in the Legislative Assembly signed by over 20,000 people including over 3000 Canberrans and a further 13,200 supporters from across Australia – calling on the ACT Government to rule out the killing of wombats and commit to non-lethal, evidence-based management.
“Canberrans care deeply about our local wildlife and wombats, as shown by the level of engagement with this petition,” said Ms Clay.
The petition is in response to concerns about a draft ACT Government report considering reclassifying bare-nosed wombats as a controlled native species, which could open the door to allow lethal management.
“The community is rightly concerned about considering such a major shift without a solid ecological and animal welfare evidence base showing that it's necessary.
“Some rural leaseholders are dealing with real challenges - wombat burrows can cause waterway erosion, and wombat damage to fencing can allow stock to get out and foxes to get in. These are genuine problems for farmers.
"But the ACT Government has not done their science homework – we don’t even have an estimate for how many wombats we have in the ACT.
“We need proper data on wombat populations, a full investigation of the extent of issues experienced by all leaseholders alongside and practical support for non-lethal management that works on the ground.
“The ACT rural community need support from the government to properly explore and implement non-lethal methods of coexistence – and that must happen before lethal management is considered.
“This is a call to get the evidence and work with farmers, wildlife carers and First Nations communities to find humane and effective solutions,” said Ms Clay.