Thursday, 15 August 2024

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (12:56): (1042) My constituency question is for the Minister for Environment. Earlier this week I was contacted by constituents in Chewton after a kangaroo was pierced through the skull with a bow and arrow and left to die. It is the second time in a week a bow-hunting attack on wildlife has been reported to authorities. In fact residents tell me that animals are often brutally attacked in this way, but still nothing is being done to regulate the sale and use of bows in Victoria. I have raised it in here many times. It continues to happen, and the minister continues to ignore us. You do not need a licence to possess a bow and arrow in this state, and if one is shot illegally, there is essentially no way at all to trace it back to the perpetrator. My constituents are sick of these regular incidents in Northern Victoria and want to know when the minister will ban bow-and-arrow hunting just as South Australia is doing right now.