In four alternative proposals, the railway between Nelia and Maxwelton marked the boundary, according to the Central Queensland Wild Dog Control Fence Community Consultation Report, released last month. The length of fencing among the proposals ranged from 1073 to 1440 kilometres, which could cover eight million hectares.

One proposal suggested fencing Winton, Richmond and Flinders Shires as a separate project.

The report said community consultation focused on issues including fence maintenance, wild dog eradication, and impact on those outside the proposed fence. 

“There is also general consensus that the issues raised are not insurmountable and that the most important step will be to decide to build the fence, seek funding and start building,” the report said. 

Winton Shire Mayor Butch Lenton said there was concern in his community that kangaroos and wild dogs could be pushed outside the fence if it was to be built. 

There were still many decisions to be made which included whether the proposal will result in a series of cluster fences or one lengthier one. 

Cr Lenton said the Bladensburg National Park, to the south of Winton, would also be a factor in deciding the fence’s border. 

Cr Lenton could not say if Winton Shire Council would contribute to funding of the fence. 

“It’s too early for that call,” he said. 

Numbers of wild dogs had increased in different areas across Queensland in several years, Cr Lenton said. 

But Winton had baiting programs including aerial bait drops that were “working quite well”. 

State member for Mount Isa Robbie Katter opposed the dog fence in a statement released last week, and said it was “like every ill-conceived government proposal”.  

He said the fence would cost $13 million to build and a large amount of money to maintain annually. 

Subsidising 1080 baits or cluster fences would be a better option, Mr Katter said. 

Central West Wild Dog Control Committee spokesman Dominic Burden said the dog fence was not a government proposal. 

“The check fence proposal has been developed and progressed by concerned landholders and is supported by an overwhelming majority of the community as measured at a series of 10 public consultation sessions,” Mr Burden said. 

The committee would ask the government to support the project on behalf of the community. It would be “an economically enabling piece of community infrastructure”. 

Mr Burden said the government provided 1080 bait free of charge to landowners, and payed for the aircraft to put bait out twice a year.

This meant the bait could not be further subsidised. 

Cluster fencing would cost about $64 million to build as opposed to $13 million for the proposed regional fence, Mr Burden said. 

Remote Area Planning and Development Board general manager David Arnold agreed a number of issues needed to be answered before the fence was built. 

The proposal was “conceptual” at this stage, and the next step was to decide if it was viable. 

But Mr Arnold said if further investigation into the proposal resumed today then he could not imagine the fence would be completed within several years. 

But this was a “wide guestimate”.