Thursday, 31 August 2023

Committees

Select Committee on Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements

Inquiry into Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (09:36): Pursuant to standing order 23.22, I table a report on Victoria’s recreational native bird hunting arrangements, including appendices, extracts of proceedings and minority reports from the Select Committee on Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements, and I present the transcripts of evidence. I move:

That the transcripts of evidence be tabled and the report be published.

Motion agreed to.

Ryan BATCHELOR: I move:

That the Council take note of the report.

I am pleased to present the final report of the inquiry into Victoria’s native bird hunting arrangements. The report is the culmination of extensive evidence gathering over the last five months, including nearly 10,500 submissions, which is by far the most received by any committee in the Victorian Parliament’s history. The committee held 28 sessions of public hearings over six days and heard from ecologists and environmental scientists, hunting groups, animal welfare groups, veterinarians, economists, unions, compliance and enforcement agencies, government departments and, importantly, individuals with firsthand experiences as hunters and animal rescuers.

We also got out and about to see things for ourselves on the ground, with site visits to Lake Connewarre outside of Geelong on the opening day of duck season this year and to Heart Morass near Sale. I also personally conducted a private trip to Kerang and the surrounding wetlands on the last weekend of the duck season and spoke to hunters and rescuers, all of whom were genuine in their positions and advocated clearly and calmly for their point of view. Many Victorians care deeply about recreational native bird hunting, and the depth of these feelings was clear to the committee.

Passionate interest in matters of public policy is a healthy sign for our democracy, as is being able to have that debate with respect and understanding of different points of view. But ultimately, as a committee, we had to weigh up the evidence, to reach a conclusion and form recommendations. It was clear that not everyone was going to agree, and they did not. To expect anything less would be to diminish these genuinely and deeply held views. To a majority of the committee, it was clear that Victoria should end recreational native bird hunting on all public and private land from 2024. This would bring Victoria into line with many other Australian jurisdictions.

It is clear from the environmental evidence of long-term decline in native bird populations, largely driven by habitat loss, and a worsening outlook as our climate continues to change, that despite record recent rainfall bird populations have not recovered. There are also considerable animal welfare issues associated with native bird hunting: unavoidable wounding rates and the killing of threatened and protected species. Compliance efforts, while improving from a low base, have a long way to go to be truly effective. There is a genuine need to allow for the control of native birds, including ducks that are considered pests and destroy agricultural crops. However, this can be managed through the existing authority to control wildlife process, managed by the conservation regulator and mirroring arrangements in New South Wales.

It was often extremely upsetting to the committee to see evidence of Aboriginal cultural heritage sites that were damaged or destroyed by game hunters. Just as disheartening was an apparent lack of a coherent process for monitoring this, reporting and responding to these issues by government agencies. Much more must be done.

Victoria already invests a significant amount of public funding into the monitoring of bird numbers and for compliance in bird hunting. The sheer size and geographic diversity of locations makes it a near on impossible task for the Game Management Authority to adequately enforce bird-hunting regulations, and significant investment would be required by IBAC, game licence holders or the taxpayers should native bird hunting continue.

The committee has also made findings on what regulatory change would be necessary should our first recommendation to end the practice not be adopted. There is a genuine need to do more to support outdoor recreation in Victoria, and that was clear from the evidence we received. Currently regulations exclude non-hunters from tens of thousands of hectares of public land during duck season. Ending hunting would allow these game reserves to be converted into outdoor recreation reserves for camping and boating and the like, allowing all Victorians to access them all year round.

I would like to thank my committee colleagues for their participation in the inquiry and assistance in formulating the final report. Throughout the inquiry all members conducted themselves in a respectful manner. I would also like to thank the committee secretariat, managed by Matt Newington, the research team, led by Kieran Crowe and Imran Ahmed, and the administrative support provided by Julie Barnes, Daphne Papaioannou, Sylvette Bassy, Jo Clifford and Adam Leigh. A lot of other parliamentary staff had to chip in and help as well, and I thank them all.

I would finally like to thank the committee’s Deputy Chair, Mr Galea, for his stewardship of the committee’s final deliberations during my recent absence on bereavement leave. Given this leave, I was absent from the committee’s final deliberation meeting, and all the records of those deliberations are included in detail at the end of the report. However, I would like to place on the parliamentary record that had I been in attendance I would have voted with Mr Galea, Ms Watt, Ms Purcell and Ms Copsey to adopt this final report and all of its recommendations. I commend the report to the house.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (09:42): This is a self-fulfilling prophecy, this select committee. The government stood up and said, ‘I want to ban duck hunting’, and lo and behold, some five months later this is the report tabled today.

Habitat is key. If you have habitat, you have birds.

So says wildlife ecologist Dr Hiller. There is no logical reason to ban a sustainable duck-hunting season in Victoria, and we have had evidence to support that view. This inquiry has been driven by ideological and political reasons for payback to support issues in this house. The Nationals strongly back a sustainable duck-hunting season and quail season in Victoria, and the Nationals and Liberals minority report at the back of this committee report certainly endorses that. There is a Labor, Greens and Animal Justice Party alliance in this report. What they failed to recognise was Professor Klaassen when he said that given the specifics of duck biology, hunting ‘doesn’t really put a dent in the population’. They blatantly refused to listen to Dja Dja Wurrung elder Rod Carter when he said:

I think more broadly to the importance of being a hunter – a hunter as such holding a very significant place within society, within a family, as a provider of sustenance to people. We also describe … the importance for us as First Nations people – but extending that to us as humans …

I endorse his position. I also agree with the unionist Trevor Williams that this is ‘the thin edge of the wedge’. What will be next?

I would like to put on record my thanks to the secretariat – Matt Newington, Kieran Crowe, Imran Ahmed, Julie Barnes, Sylvette Bassy, Jo Clifford and any other members of the secretariat – that worked so very hard on this very short timed inquiry.

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (09:44): I am absolutely stoked to speak on the tabling of this report today, and I join with my colleague in thanking the Chair and other committee members. I made it clear when I got elected that ending duck shooting was my number one priority, and today we are only one step away. This report says what we have been saying all along: that duck shooting is out of touch with community sentiment, that no action plan can completely stop wounding and suffering and that compliance is a near impossible task.

In 1990, before I was even born, Labor Premier Carmen Lawrence, in Western Australia, banned duck shooting. When she did it she said:

Our community has reached a stage of enlightenment where it can no longer accept the institutionalised killing of native birds for recreation.

Now it is 2023 in Victoria and we are still killing birds for recreation, but this report provides the opportunity for us to become enlightened as a state and to protect our native wildlife from recreational slaughter. I call on the government now to action these recommendations swiftly. It is time for them to act. They can cancel the next duck-shooting season with the stroke of a pen, without passing any legislation, and we are very hopeful that that will happen before the year is over.

I am obviously not the first Animal Justice Party MP to be in here, and I want to thank my former boss Andy Meddick for all of the fantastic work that he did up until this point – this great win is also his – as well as Laurie Levy, who has been out on the wetlands for almost 40 years now. We want to be able to put him into retirement; he is in his 80s. I want to thank all the duck rescuers who have been out doing the hard work in this time as well and everyone who participated in the inquiry. Once again, we are calling on the government to act immediately.

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (09:46): As a committee we heard from an array of witnesses and some key information was shared with us. A number of witnesses conceded it is impossible to conduct duck shooting without wounding. Witnesses with veterinary experience said it is impossible to conduct duck shooting without cruelty – behaviour that, if it was not part of the recreational duck-shooting season, would constitute animal cruelty. We heard that in practice it is impossible to enforce hunting rules across the vast wetlands given over exclusively to shooters when the season is on.

When the committee visited Lake Connewarre for season opening, I found it really eerie to hear gunfire breaking the silence of an otherwise beautiful morning. I acknowledge the heroic efforts of rescuers, volunteer vets and community advocates over decades and particularly those who have been out on the front lines of our wetlands, saving our native ducks from slaughter, despite the significant impact this has on their wellbeing. I also want to acknowledge Sue Pennicuik, who was the Greens MP for Southern Metro and our former animals spokesperson, who brought this issue into this very chamber in her inaugural speech 17 years ago and many other times in the years since. Thank you, Sue. We are in an extinction crisis. Thousands of our native waterbirds are already under stress. The recreational slaughter of our wildlife must end. I really urge the government to act swiftly on this report and to save Victoria’s ducks once and for all.

Like the other committee members, I am sure, I do want to thank everybody who participated but in particular our wonderful committee staff. They did excellent work assisting the committee, particularly given the record-breaking number of submissions that this inquiry received – over 10,000. For the site visits that you arranged and, given the public interest in the issue, the professionalism and dedication that you showed to your work, we thank you very much.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (09:48): I too would like to speak on this. As a member of the committee I came to this issue not knowing much about duck hunting and not really having an interest in ever going duck hunting. That is probably still the case, but I took the opportunity to join the committee with an open mind, and what I saw was the greatest of human spirit – ordinary working people enjoying what is a normal recreational activity. Going out to Lake Connewarre, particularly to Heart Morass, I saw some of the conservation efforts going on. What was an old salt desert plain was turned into a beautiful habitat sanctuary that ordinary working people were able to escape to. I heard from witnesses at the committee who likened duck hunting to a men’s shed and said it was an escape from everyday working life, it was an escape from their mortgage. Many of these people are construction workers or workers on worksites who work the equivalent of a seven-day week, and they book their leave long in advance so they can escape with their family and go duck hunting. I have heard from working-class people in my electorate from Craigieburn to Reservoir, Kalkallo, Beveridge and Wallan, who have all told me they support duck hunting. For a lot of people it is a multigenerational family thing.

I think this committee from the start has been a stitch-up. That is not me saying that, that is Labor MPs briefing the media that this was always a predetermined outcome. They told the media there were no inquiries about how we could restrict licensing agreements or about how we could involve Indigenous Victorians in the preservation of wetlands. I thank the committee staff, particularly Matt Newington, but this has been a stitch-up. I support the working-class people in my electorate who just want to enjoy this recreational activity.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:50): I also rise to speak on the tabled report of the Select Committee on Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements. As deputy chair of the committee I welcome the tabling of this report and I welcome its recommendations. As a committee we heard extensive evidence from experts, advocates and members of the broader community. The committee received 10,402 written submissions and heard from witnesses in 28 public hearings across Melbourne and regional Victoria. I would like to acknowledge the work of committee chair Ryan Batchelor, who diligently guided our work and ensured that every voice was heard at the table.

Based on evidence received, the committee has recommended that the government cease the recreational hunting of native birds in Victoria effective from next year. I support this recommendation. We have also recommended that the government convert existing state game reserves used for duck hunting into outdoor recreational reserves to enable and encourage more Victorians to partake in outdoor recreation across our state. A proposed recommendation to empower the Game Management Authority to expand hunting of non-native pest species such as deer, foxes and rabbits was not supported by the non-Labor members of the committee and as such does not form part of the final report. I affirm my support for the continuation and expansion of hunting of pest species such as deer, foxes and rabbits.

It is now up to the government to evaluate our report and determine its response to the committee’s report. As a member of the committee it is my hope that the government adopts our recommendations. Finally, I would like to thank all of my colleagues on the committee, Matt Newington and the rest of the committee secretariat team.

The PRESIDENT: To the gallery, there is no filming or photos to be taken under the rules of entering the Parliament, so if there is any of that, could that please stop.

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (09:52): I too would like to rise to speak on this report. Like Mr Batchelor, I could not be around for the deliberations, but if I had had a vote I would have been voting with my colleagues Ms Bath, Mr Mulholland and Mr Bourman. I thank particularly Ms Bath for the work she has put into the minority report. It is an extraordinary document, and it really deserves great credit. I would also like to thank the secretariat staff, who did an unbelievable job with massive problems with IT and so on. But above all I would thank the thousands of people who participated from outside the committee to this inquiry. They submitted reports, and they appeared before us in good faith.

I am sorry to say this was a stitch-up from the beginning. As Minister Blandthorn said when she moved the motion, duck hunting ‘should be banned’. We knew the outcome was going to be a ban on duck hunting. There is an exemption, and that is for the traditional owners. So we have singled out one group in the community who can continue to shoot ducks. But this is extraordinary, and as Troy Gray said from the Electrical Trades Union, this is an attack on workers. I cannot believe that you people on the other side think it is a good idea to take away the rights of the working-class people of this state, who actually find this an outdoor recreation, a retreat from the hard work that they do, especially on your major projects. And as Troy Gray said, they would be walking off the job. I hope he keeps his word. He should, because that is what he told the committee. This is an appalling situation, what you have done. You had a predetermined position from the beginning, and you have delivered it. I say sorry to all those tens of thousands of people who do so much to ensure that the areas of wetlands are preserved and looked after so well. I look forward to all those people who think we should not be doing it getting out there and looking after the wetlands.

Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (09:54): I would like to join my colleagues in making some remarks on the tabling of the report of the Select Committee on Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements. In doing so, I would firstly like to acknowledge the enormous work of the secretariat and in particular acknowledge Matt Newington and Julie Barnes. Thank you for all that you have done. Thank you to my fellow committee members and to the chair Ryan Batchelor for taking us through what has been a very challenging and highly emotive committee process. As was stated, this committee has had the most submissions ever, with over 10,000, and it was a big piece of work for each and every one of us.

I really felt that it was necessary to make recommendations that speak beyond this report, given my commitment to self-determination, and highlight the cultural practices important to First Peoples on the path to treaty, which this state has so boldly embarked upon. The voices of First Nations people in this state need to be central to the decision-making that this Parliament undertakes. By listening to the voices and views of our First Nations people, I have made Indigenous land management a vital part of my report. I hope that the changes resulting from this committee can ensure that we continue on our strong path to First Nations self-determination.

Among the many witnesses that we heard from throughout the course of this inquiry, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank Uncle Rodney Carter and Uncle Gary Murray for joining us at the hearings and for sharing wisdom, knowledge, culture and the aspirations of traditional owners and First Peoples across this state. In a year when the nation will be asked about whether they support a First Nations Voice to Parliament, my report fulfils my cultural obligations to listen to my elders and seniors and role model what the Voice will mean, because that is what a commitment to First Peoples self-determination and Voice is all about.

Jeff BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (09:56): Thanks must be given to the secretariat for a stellar effort in very trying circumstances. This report presents the government with a challenge. It invites the government to reject the expert advice of Eureka Prize winning ecologist Professor Richard Kingsford in favour of the unhinged ramblings of a secret lobby group whose representative showed up at a public hearing wearing a disguise. The government should reject that invitation. It invites the government to reject the voices of the blue-collar workers who are building its legacy. Their voice was articulated so strongly by no fewer than seven major trade unions. It invites the government to send a message to those workers that the government might stand beside them for photo opportunities, but it sure as hell does not stand with them. The government should reject that invitation.

It invites the government to put at risk the seats of its own MPs outside of the goats cheese curtain just to appease people who will vote for the Greens anyway. The government should reject that invitation. It also invites the government to reject the hand of friendship being offered by the federation of traditional owners and the Dja Dja Wurrung people in favour of divisive rhetoric from urban dwellers. The government should reject that invitation. It invites a government elected just nine months ago, with a clear mandate, to ignore its own commitments in favour of those being pushed by a fringe party that got its sole representative elected through sleight of hand. The government should reject that invitation.

Just last year the Premier said that he supported duck hunting, saying:

Some of us play golf … some people go shooting …

That’s about finding a balance and I’m not about telling people what should constitute their recreational activities.

That was good advice. The Premier said what the government should do. I invite the government to do what it said. This report was a stitch-up. Anyone that was there for the entire time could not reasonably come up with this as a decent outcome. I think it is a sham, and I invite the government to ignore it.

Motion agreed to.