Wednesday, 6 March 2024

Select Committee on Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements

Inquiry into Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (16:31): I rise to speak to the Victorian government response to the Legislative Council select committee’s inquiry into Victoria’s recreational native bird hunting arrangements report recommendations tabled on 20 February 2024. For those who are not familiar, this is a response to a select committee that was not only formed by the government but chaired by the government. I note the chair of that inquiry is here in the chamber, and that inquiry made a very clear recommendation that recreational duck shooting be banned in Victoria on public and private land from 2024 onwards.

Now, a whole lot of work went into that committee. I was a member of that committee. We made seven other recommendations, but the main one was that recreational duck shooting be banned by this Labor government, just as Labor governments did in New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland decades ago. In fact Western Australia banned duck shooting before I was even born, and now I am here in this Parliament still fighting it. It is certainly not the action of a progressive Labor government, as they love to call themselves. In fact we are one of the worst states on animal welfare, and it is absolutely shameful. The government has responded to this report by ignoring the main recommendation, recommendation 1, to ban duck shooting, which is absolutely shameful. They took us all on a ride and made us do a whole bunch of work last year travelling out to the regions and having public hearings, only for them to ignore this very important report that would have brought us in line with the majority of the country in protecting our native waterbirds and keeping them safe from recreational gunfire.

I want to talk to you about the seven other recommendations that the government has supported, and what is absolutely astonishing to me is that they will be phasing them in from 2025 onwards. It is 2024, so what does that mean? There will be a recreational duck-shooting season this year under the status quo, and this committee found that the status quo is not working. Thousands of birds are wounded and maimed and killed every single year. So many are left to suffer on the wetlands, and the lucky ones – I hate to call them the lucky ones – are retrieved by duck rescuers. Duck rescuers simply cannot be at every wetland in the state. It is impossible. There are thousands of places where you can go duck shooting, and that is exactly why the committee also found that the Game Management Authority has an impossible task when monitoring compliance and shooter behaviour, because there are only a handful of authority officers and thousands of places where you can go duck shooting.

We will have our voluntary vet teams and duck rescuers out on the wetlands again with the season commencing from 10 April. I will be out there on opening weekend with my staff and dozens of other rescuers doing something that we should not have to be doing. This government should be ashamed of themselves and their actions by not adopting recommendation 1 of our committee’s report.

I am finding out some more information on these changes from the media, and last week we found out that proficiency testing will be brought in for shooters. That might be a good thing; however, it is only for new duck shooters. I can see the Chair shaking his head; I am probably saying what he would like to. We had already found through the inquiry process that wounding was an enormous problem, and that is from the existing cohort of duck shooters. Proficiency testing might deter new duck shooters from getting their licences, but it certainly will not fix the wounding problem. We are embarking on an incredibly expensive process. We do not know how much it is going to cost. We know it is going to cost a lot. The government has already committed $10 million. There is going to be more. We are in a cost-of-living crisis, and they are intent on spending taxpayer money to prop up an activity that is participated in by less than 1 per cent of the population and opposed by the majority. They should hang their heads in shame that they have made this decision.

Finally, I just want to talk about the government’s comments that traditional owners will be closely involved in the future of recreational hunting. I just want to acknowledge the work of Gary Murray, who I know is very, very disappointed in the outcome of this inquiry. He is on the First Peoples’ Assembly, and he appeared before us at the inquiry. Many other First Nations representatives have reached out to me in response. We will keep on working to end recreational duck shooting in Victoria. This is a shameful response from the government.