Recurrent operating funding is the key to improving the wildlife sector

Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital Associate Veterinarian Dr Chantal Whitten attends to “Sprout”, a Red-necked Wallaby patient. Photo: James D Morgan - Getty Images.

The Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Ms Trish Doyle MP, is leading the review into the NSW wildlife rehabilitation sector. The review will provide recommendations to the Minister for the Environment, the Hon Penny Sharpe MLC, on opportunities to improve support to the wildlife rehabilitation sector and associated veterinary sector. The review will be completed, and a report submitted to Minister Sharpe by 30 October 2025.

Wildlife care services - rescue, treatment and rehabilitation -are of critical importance to biodiversity and environmental health. Yet it is a critically under-funded sector that relies on the skills, compassion and goodwill of volunteer rescuers and professional veterinarians to give away their time. These groups do their best to raise funds through donations, sponsorship and fundraising initiatives. The lack of funding forces them to compete for meager resources and apply for grants for projects. The NSW government claims its policies prevent grant funds to be used for business-as-usual operations.

The review is welcome. However, as has been recommended in the Independent Review of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act and the Parliamentary Inquiry in the Veterinary Workforce Shortage in NSW, the answer is already there. As the legal protectors of wildlife in NSW, the government needs to update their policies and have Expenditure Review Committees commit to recurrent budget funding for wildlife hospitals and rescue organisations to protect native animals that are the legal responsibility of the Crown.

Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital will be attending a Roundtable on the Review on 26th February. A copy of our submission to the review can be downloaded here.