Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (18:00): (2507) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is for her to meet with Vets for Compassion to discuss a practical solution to urgent non-veterinary darter supervision requirements. Imagine that you stopped on a highway to attend to a kangaroo hit by a vehicle in the middle of the road. With the help of a kind stranger, you carefully place the docile kangaroo into the front passenger seat of your small car. Five minutes into the journey, the injured kangaroo becomes alert, kicking and thrashing as you drive through busy morning traffic. You immediately pull into the emergency lane and exit the vehicle, and in a highly distressed state, you call for help. Within 25 minutes a Vets for Compassion volunteer arrives with the equipment and with the skills needed to safely dart and sedate the animal. Except under current restrictions, darting and sedating that kangaroo to prevent their further suffering is now illegal in Victoria, despite this practice being used for years and years to respond to wildlife emergencies safely and humanely. Now imagine that this story actually happened to someone in our state – because it did.

In November last year the Veterinary Practitioners Registration Board of Victoria clarified legislation that non-veterinary darters must now be accompanied by a veterinarian physically onsite with them. On paper this reads like a minor clarification, but in practice it has had immediate and profound consequences for animals and responders who have been doing this work for years, some even decades, right across the state. Despite a trained volunteer darter being available and ready to sedate the injured and distressed kangaroo, a supervising vet was unable to attend for a further 2.5 hours as they were already on another call-out supervising another non-vet darter.

For several years telehealth was considered an appropriate form of direct supervision for darting operations. Under this model non-vet darters responded to more than 92 per cent of call outs from the state, as vets do not have the capacity to undertake this work themselves. But since the clarification that vet supervision requires physical presence, the essential emergency response care wildlife responders can provide has been significantly restricted. Victoria Police, the CFA, Metro Trains, Parks Victoria, various councils and members of the public all rely on these services when animals are injured or displaced in high-risk environments. Under the current restrictions these agencies are often left with no alternative options, resulting in prolonged and unnecessary animal suffering, increased public safety risks, significant pressure on already stretched responders and community outrage at the lack of available support. This situation has become increasingly dire, and I call on the minister to work with Vets for Compassion to find a practical solution.