Deer control
Bill TILLEY (Benambra) (10:38): Last week Henry was killed. On a dark winter’s night, all alone, the young buck met his maker. Henry should not have been there. It was the wrong place and the wrong time, but in these uncertain times those on the fringe of society are increasingly exposed to risk and, in Henry’s case, death. Henry was a sambar deer, killed by a car in Wodonga. The car – the only means of transport for that family – is written off. A second car was totalled by another deer just days later. This is now a deer plague that threatens people’s lives. To paraphrase what I said in this place back in 2018, the issue for the High Country and the peri-urban fringes of the towns in the Benambra district and even in Melbourne is that the elephant in the room has antlers.
This is the East Victoria deer control plan, and this is the lapsed funding from the Victorian government. There is $18 million over four years, which expires in just a few days. I am told the continued funding may come from another bucket of money, but my fear is this government and its upper house transactional charlatan, aka the Animal Justice Party, will conspire to save Bambi. This funding needs to be transparent. It must be maintained, and deer need to be controlled.