Thursday, 16 October 2025

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (17:53): (2022) My adjournment request is to the Minister for Environment. Will you take steps to end the commercial killing of kangaroos in Victoria and commission an independent review of population estimation methods and welfare outcomes so our policies reflect both the science and community values?

Kangaroos are one of our most iconic native animals, woven into the identity of this state and our nation, appearing on our coat of arms and our sporting uniforms and prominent in our tourism promotion. But every year the government sets commercial harvest quotas and issues authorities that enable the large-scale killing of these beautiful animals under the kangaroo harvest management plan. The usual justification is that populations must be controlled, but the science and methods that underpin population estimates have been heavily criticised. Population numbers of kangaroos in Victoria are determined by aerial surveys, which extrapolate from sampled transects to vast landscapes. Populations also fluctuate dramatically with rainfall and drought, meaning that snapshots risk being misread as stable abundance. It is clear that the methodology needs to be updated. As the CSIRO says:

In contrast, model-based approaches that use relationships between population density and habitat variables can deliver greater precision and ecological insight into population estimates.

That is quoted directly from a 2023 CSIRO Publishing paper titled ‘Spatio-temporal trends in the abundance of grey kangaroos in Victoria, Australia’. Serious animal welfare concerns with this program also continue to persist. Wildlife Victoria and others are clear that commercial shooting often occurs at night, in remote areas and with limited direct oversight. Often when a mother kangaroo is shot, dependent joeys must under the national code of practice also be killed – an obligation that advocacy groups say often fails in practice, leading to slow deaths from starvation or predation.

The program also risks Victoria’s reputation for wildlife tourism. People come here to see these kangaroos alive, not as pet food inputs or as bits of leather. Recent debate, including international scrutiny and market pushback on kangaroo products, shows how contested and reputationally risky this trade has become.

Minister, there are humane and effective alternatives. Where kangaroos come into conflict with farming or roads, targeted nonlethal management can be used: better fencing, wildlife corridors, relocation in limited cases and, above all, proper habitat protection so that animals are not forced into conflict in the first place. These measures are consistent with what rescue and advocacy groups, including the Victorian Kangaroo Alliance and Animals Australia, have urged the government to prioritise. Please, Minister, end the commercial harvest of kangaroos and update our population estimation methods so that we can have better outcomes.