Thursday, 4 June 2026

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (04:28): (2566) I have what I hope will be an easy 4:30 am request for our new Minister for Environment. The action I seek is for him to meet with Victoria’s kangaroo advocates to better understand the challenges this iconic species currently faces in our state. Broad parts of my electorate from Healesville to Kyneton have reported troubling incidents of suspected kangaroo shooting. As a regional MP, reports come past my office almost weekly, whether it be a roo spotted by a distressed local with its jaw half blown off, kangaroo intestines found on a tourist bushwalk or families woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of gunshots right near their home and not knowing what to do. Meanwhile, kangaroo advocates in Gippsland are urgently trying to prevent the slaughter of much-loved kangaroo mobs residing on East Gippsland Water–managed land. Yesterday even the Shadow Minister for Environment stepped in to call for intervention on the proposed kangaroo cull in that region, something he is actively pursuing while the current minister remains notably absent on the issue.

Councils are also increasingly speaking out against Victoria’s approach to kangaroo killing. Both Yarra Ranges Council and Mount Alexander Shire Council have formally called to be excluded from the kangaroo harvest management program, reflecting the concerns of the people that they represent. Except they cannot make that decision – only the state government can, and they keep saying no. One thing that remains clear across our state is that Victorians do not support commercial kangaroo killing. When local governments, wildlife advocates and community members are all raising similar concerns, it is clear that those concerns at least deserve to be heard. In fact polling from Kangaroos Alive and conducted by Pureprofile found that 77 per cent of Victorians want commercial kangaroo killing stopped, at least until reliable population estimates are obtained.

The request for our state’s kangaroo advocates and experts to meet with the Minister for Environment is an opportunity for him – he is new to the portfolio – to hear directly from the people working on the front lines of kangaroo conservation who have been doing this for many, many years and have an absolute wealth of experience. They want to discuss the compounding threats facing our native icons, along with practical solutions for coexistence, which is absolutely possible. Last year the Premier stated that we have got to look at nonlethal control mechanisms, when referring to kangaroo management in Victoria, so it only makes sense that the most practical step to begin that would be hearing direct from the community who has dedicated themselves to seeing Skippy survive. It is time for the minister to get a hop on and give our kangaroo advocates and our kangaroos a fair go.