'Farmers are still waiting': Residents call on NSW Government to act faster on mouse plague

Deputy Premier John Barilaro announced on Friday that households and small businesses impacted by high numbers of mice across regional NSW will be able to backdate their claims to February 1, 2021. Claims will be able to be made from early July.

"I've discussed the situation with the Deputy Premier and with the Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall, and I'm glad that this measure has been taken," Mr Saunders said.

"Every day I speak to people who have had mice in their homes, or their shops, or in their farm sheds, and it has been terrible. I've had them in my house and lost a family pet that came into contact with bait.

"By backdating the rebates we give people the chance to recoup some of the outlay they have made over the past three months or so, to try and keep these pests at bay."

Too little, too late.

Gulgong residents have been pushed to their wits end, unable to slow the mouse infestation that has plagued the area for months. And they are calling on the Government to move faster on a solution.

Almac Hardware and Welding Supplies owner Allan McSweyn has spoken with Gulgong community members every day, who are fed up with the plague.

"The mice have been causing us all sorts of mental issues. People get into bed at night and they're not sleeping, because they're listening out for mice and mentally that's a very draining thing," Mr McSweyn said.

"The mice can spread diseases and that's what people are really concerned about. I'm constantly scratching myself because a mouse has been somewhere, and you're touching your body and so you've got to wash everything all the time."

READ MORE: 'I still have nightmares': Mouse plague wreaks havoc on mental health and finances

Mr McSweyn has tried just about every possible method of stopping the mice from descending on his hardware store, from bucket traps to steel wool. He said the mice have become more brazen and "fearless", no longer even running at the sight of him.

For every hundred he has caught, Mr McSweyn estimates there are another 500 that escape him. He was disappointed with the level of government support offered this month and is concerned if more action isn't taken, mouse numbers will explode in springtime.

Earlier this month the NSW Government announced a $50 million support package, which includes free grain treatment for farmers, but it's still dependent on APVMA approval which may be weeks away.

Under the package, households will be able to apply for rebates of up to $500 dollars and small businesses will be eligible to claim up to $1000 dollars. But the rebates won't be available until July 2021 and people can only claim rebates on bait purchased on or after May 13.

State Member for the Dubbo electorate Dugald Saunders it was unlikely people would be able to provide receipts prior to March.

"Any scheme like this needs an actual start point, it's good and well to say that it should have been in January or February or March. But the reality of people having the ability to prove they bought something is very, very low," he said.

"And you need a program to start at some point, because everything that's done through the government has to be accounted for, absolutely to the last cent. So you can't just do a magical date and hope it works, there has to be a solid date."

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Mr Saunders has come under fire from the Gulgong community, who have blasted his Facebook page and ministerial email address with pleas to do more and act now.

"I understand the frustration, I understand the horror of what it's like to be constantly bombarded by mice each and every day," he said.

"I've lost a dog, and we had to put him down. I've had to buy a new fridge, I've had mice in my bed and my daughter's bedroom. So any suggestions that I have not been affected or don't understand the impacts of a mouse plague are unfair and completely incorrect."

Mr Saunders said that he expected the rebate will include traps and mechanisms people have used to kill mice.

"I understand the frustration around some of the rebates that have been announced and I do want to let you know that I've still been working on possible solutions or ways of clarifying exactly how those rebates will work," he said.

NSW Farmers Vice President Xavier Martin said the window to act and control this plague is now.

"Farmers are abandoning some paddocks and cannot hold off winter crop sowing a moment longer and researchers warn that without a concerted baiting effort in the next few weeks this could easily turn into a two year plague event," Mr Martin said.

"After more than eight months of battling growing mouse numbers, farmers are still waiting for State Government assistance to hit the ground and offer some practical support to our farming community.

"The State Government's assistance package is impractical, dysfunctional and weeks away, which is not helping farmers who need support right now to drive mouse numbers down and break this horrible unrelenting cycle."

NSW Farmers said the simplest, safest and most timely way for the State Government to assist farmers would be through providing rebates of up to $25,000 dollars per farm business to cover 50 per cent of the cost of zinc phosphide bait.

Mr Saunders said it was not a problem that was specifically up to the government to fix.

"People suggest there is an endless ability for the government to fix things, there isn't. But there is an ability to help in as meaningful a way as we can. And that's what I want to be trying to do," he said.

"We're part of the solution, but also as a community, as friends and neighbours and family, we have to try and help each other out as individuals as well."