Wednesday, 29 October 2025

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (09:49): I often speak in this place about the wildlife road strike crisis. Every year 10 million animals are killed on Australian roads. Numbers are often big, overwhelming and hard to comprehend, but that is 19 animals per minute. Today I want to talk about just one of them – a big, beautiful eastern grey kangaroo boy I drove past in distress, after being hit by a car on the Calder Freeway near Woodend on Monday morning. Despite having two broken back legs he was alert and conscious, swinging his head in fear and in pain. As cars sped past at 110 kilometres per hour, he tried unsuccessfully to pull himself away by his front paws. A call was placed to wildlife rescuers, and soon after he was euthanised – the only option for a macropod with an injury as serious as his. We have all become far too complacent seeing dead animals on the side of the road, myself included, but each and every one of them was an individual with a story, including one of the people trying to help them. As we head into the busiest wildlife rescue period over spring, I send my support and solidarity to our state’s overworked and exhausted wildlife rescue volunteers. If you have not done so yet, save the wildlife emergency hotline number in your phone. It could save a life.