Wednesday, 22 February 2023

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:04): (42) My question is for the minister representing the Minister for Outdoor Recreation. Minister, will your government call off the 2023 duck-hunting season?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:05): Thank you for that question. In accordance with the standing orders, I am very happy to seek an answer from my counterpart in the other place and for that to be provided to you as per usual practice.

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:05): Thank you for that response and the undertaking. Game duck numbers are dwindling. Research has shown that, even though the amount of habitat has actually increased due to the Murray-Darling Basin, the number of game duck species has not commensurately increased. Six out of eight game duck species have continued to show a significant long-term decline. The inability of our native game ducks to recover shows that they are unable currently to be hunted sustainably. Whilst bodies like the RSPCA are calling for more research into all the causes of this decline, it is obscene that the government is adding fuel to this fire by further endangering the game duck population and reducing their population all in the name of recreational shooting. Will the government finally commit to banning duck shooting once and for all?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Equality) (12:06): Thanks, Ms Copsey, for that question. There may be very little distinction between the substantive question and the supplementary, but again in accordance with the standing orders I will seek an answer from my counterpart Minister Kilkenny in the other place.