Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (19:15): (2107) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Outdoor Recreation, and the action that I seek is for the government to scrap its little anglers fishing program and replace the program with children’s binoculars instead. It is not the first time I have spoken out against this initiative, where the government is handing out free fishing rods to kids across Victoria, all while wildlife rescuers are left to deal with the fallout. Since the Allan government children’s fishing initiative began, wildlife rescuers have reported a disturbing rise in native animals becoming entangled in fishing gear. Flying foxes, kookaburras, platypus and tawny frogmouths have all been caught on lines and hooks, many with injuries so severe that they have had to be euthanised. Instead of taking responsibility for this, the government has now announced a second round of little anglers kits for every grade 5 student in 2026. This means another 82,000 kits will be distributed across the state, as if the first round of 95,000 kits for nearly 2000 schools across Victoria was not enough wildlife destruction already. While it is difficult to trace whether a child was directly responsible for these wildlife entanglement cases, it is clear that if adults are already setting poor examples and failing to teach safe fishing practices, these harmful habits will inevitably continue to be passed on.

But there is another side to Australia’s relationship with wildlife, one we and the environment can benefit from collectively, which has largely been ignored by our governments so far. Nature-based tourism is growing rapidly across Australia, with ecotourism ventures like birdwatching on the rise as more visitors seek unique wildlife experiences. Birdwatching alone generates $2.6 billion to the Australian economy each year. We are home to the second-highest number of endemic bird species in the entire world, offering people here and across the globe the chance to witness species found nowhere else on earth. Despite its substantial economic contribution, birdwatching continues to receive little strategic attention or support from the government, unlike more harmful initiatives such as the little angler kits – which, by the way, rely on stocking rivers and waterways with fish to compensate for the damage the fishing industry is already causing. Right now nearly one in six Australian birds faces the threat of extinction. A greater investment into this sector starts with recognising its economic potential and its capacity to protect unique environments, and it helps support conservation efforts too. Therefore I urge the minister to ditch the bait and replace it with binoculars before it is too late.