Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Select Committee on Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements

Inquiry into Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:10): I rise to speak on the report of the Select Committee on Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements. Last week the government issued its response to our report. It supported seven of our eight recommendations. It did, however, reject the first recommendation of the report, which called for the abolition of the annual recreational bird hunting season on both private and public lands from this year onwards.

My position on this report is well known both from the extracts of its proceedings and from my statements in this place. I stand by the report today just as much as I did on the day that it was tabled. However, I do not intend to use my contribution today to aerate my self-evident disappointment. The recommendations which have been accepted by government will still provide a meaningful pathway to improving the situation, even if not to the extent that I would have hoped. Measures such as banning the use of lead shot, which is currently still permitted when shooting quails; protections for cultural heritage; and improved testing regimes, such as knowledge and proficiency testing, will all play their role. The latter in particular will be critical if we are to meaningfully reduce wounding rates, which our report found to be anywhere between 6 and 40 per cent.

A further matter the report identified as being critically important in the event that native bird hunting continued is that public land used for such purposes be specifically declared each season rather than the current scenario of excluding land as required. This, together with the provision of reliable and publicly available map data on where hunting occurs, would strengthen accountability and provide for more effective compliance management by the Game Management Authority and Victoria Police. Proponents of native bird hunting maintained to our inquiry that wounding rates can be meaningfully reduced and compliance improved. It is now up to them to prove it.

As much as I would have preferred a different outcome to this report, I entirely respect the government’s right to make this decision. Parliamentary committees play an invaluable role in our democratic process, but they are not executive decision-makers and nor should they be. I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge the considerable work put in to this report by our chair Mr Batchelor. Mr Batchelor led what was a truly investigative committee which deeply and genuinely explored the issue. He made great efforts to ensure all voices were heard at the table and that all committee members were given an equal chance to prosecute their arguments.

Our committee was initiated following a successful motion by the government on 9 March last year. It was read in by Minister Blandthorn, and I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge her passion and her unwavering dedication to this issue. I recall at the time members opposite in their contributions lambasted the inquiry, calling it a foregone conclusion. Evidently it was not. The work of our inquiry is now done, and our report has been responded to. I look forward to seeing the implementation of the seven recommendations which have been supported by the government and the outcomes that they will deliver. I will personally continue to advocate for our state’s native birds and for an end to their recreational slaughter.