Wednesday, 19 February 2020

Wildlife protection

Ms SANDELL (Melbourne) (09:54): Over the past few months I have received countless emails and phone calls about an issue that is also close to my heart, and that is about how we treat our wildlife and our animals in Victoria, and specifically about why the government has not made a decision to cancel the duck season this year. We know that every year thousands and thousands of ducks are brutally slaughtered, including some threatened species, and we have had a record drought. The government should have made a decision already about whether to cancel the duck shooting season. I know there are probably some internal battles going on in the Labor Party—with people on one side and people on the other side—about what to do, but I am pleading with the government to please make the humane decision this time.

Our animals and wildlife have suffered so much already over the past year. We have had drought. We have had record heat, with flying foxes literally falling dead from trees. We have had of course the bushfires killing hundreds of millions of our animals, and we also see continued logging, which is threatening animals—threatened species—and their habitat. Enough is enough. The community has had enough of this war on our wildlife. They want our wildlife and our precious animals to be protected. They are saying this loud and clear. My inbox is being flooded; I am sure many other MPs are seeing those emails as well. Come on, Labor—let us make the right decision this time. Let us cancel the duck shooting season once and for all, end logging and protect our wildlife.