Wednesday, 18 June 2025

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (18:11): (1723) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Environment, and the action that I seek is the urgent release of the kangaroo harvesting program report for quarter 1 of 2025. The first quarter of the year ended in March, yet we are now in mid-June, and the public is still left without any information regarding the killing of our iconic kangaroos. There is no information available on how many kangaroos have been killed, how many government-issued tags have been used, where these killings have occurred or how any compliance has been monitored. This delay is unacceptable, especially given the Allan Labor government’s announcement last Friday that they will make it even easier to kill kangaroos in drought conditions, offering rebates to do so.

This decision is abhorrent, especially when we know there is a push from farming and industry groups for even higher kill quotas in 2025. This decision has been made without the public release of the quarter 1 data – data that would show whether harvest zones are being pushed beyond their limits, if quotas are already being met or if they are being exceeded. It is downright irresponsible for our Premier to offer rebates to encourage the slaughter of kangaroos without even the most basic transparency being provided to the community. This reckless disregard for the devastating impact on our iconic kangaroo populations fuels the largest land-based wildlife massacre on the planet, and yet it persists in near total secrecy, shielded from proper public scrutiny under the veil of darkness at night.

The department claims the report is finalised and will be released soon. But soon has come and it has gone. We are now halfway through the year, and its absence is impossible to ignore. Tens of thousands of native kangaroos are killed through this program every single year in our state. These reports are not a courtesy. They are a minimum standard of transparency for a system that is already widely criticised both here and across the globe. Minister, I ask that the quarter 1 report be released without further delay. The public has a right to know what is happening to our kangaroos, especially given decisions about their welfare are being made without this critical information being available.