Thursday, 30 May 2024

Duck hunting

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (12:03): (550) My question is for the Minister for Outdoor Recreation in the other place. Lake Boort was closed to duck shooting preseason due to the presence of threatened species but was reopened last week following advice from the Game Management Authority. On Saturday some of the few wildlife rescuers who are yet to receive a banning notice from the wetlands discovered a pit of buried native ducks at Lake Boort Wildlife Reserve. In the absence of compliance officers, volunteer rescuers were onsite looking for onshore breaches when they came across a still-smouldering log left abandoned by shooters. A closer look revealed three grey teals, two wood ducks and a protected grebe, which for the record is not a duck. Has the GMA identified and charged the shooters responsible for killing protected native species this season?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:04): I thank Ms Purcell for her question and obviously her ongoing passion for this issue. I am sure that Minister Dimopoulos will be pleased to respond to her question.

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (12:04): Thank you, Attorney, for referring that on. The reopening of Lake Boort to shooting forces the only Aboriginal keeping place in Boort to close its doors to visitors. Cooking mounds at Lake Boort are estimated to be more than 10,000 years old, and it is home to the densest population of scarred trees in the entire country. This season rescuers have once again documented damage to Indigenous scarred trees and the illegal cutting down and removal of trees which are also important habitat to waterbirds. Following recommendations from the inquiry into native bird hunting arrangements, what measures will the government implement to protect Indigenous sites from damage by recreational shooters, and when?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:05): There is probably a bit of crossover into Mr Dimopoulos’s other portfolio as well, so I am well placed to direct that to the minister.