Wednesday, 17 June 2026

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (19:07): (2600) My matter is for the Minister for Industry and Advanced Manufacturing. I would like to begin with the wise words of the great Nelly Furtado: ‘I’m like a bird, I’ll only fly away’. Those words are fitting because I want to speak about the corellas currently residing at the Hill Top Golf & Country Club in Tatura and the Kilmore Golf Club and the permanent ethical management solutions proposed by the Bird Advocacy Foundation. The action that I seek from the minister is to support the Bird Advocacy Foundation’s ethical wildlife management project in the Greater Shepparton and Mitchell shires as a pilot for future ethical wildlife management projects throughout Victoria.

As many Victorians have become increasingly aware through social media following the publication of last year’s authority-to-control-wildlife permits, native birds and other wildlife across our state are being subjected to increasingly aggressive lethal control measures. This is occurring despite mounting evidence that lethal control rarely provides a lasting solution. Time and time again animals are removed only for new wildlife to return, creating a costly and ineffective cycle that fails to deliver the desired outcomes for either the people or the wildlife. Right now one of the greatest challenges in wildlife management is habituation. Traditional deterrent methods often lose effectiveness as animals become accustomed to them. This is precisely the challenge currently being experienced at the Hill Top Golf & Country Club and the Kilmore Golf Club, where large flocks of corellas continue to frequent the greens.

What is particularly encouraging is that my colleague from the Nationals Mrs Cleeland has also been seeking solutions to the issues faced at Kilmore. This presents us with a scenario where we can join unlikely forces on this issue to achieve an outcome that benefits everyone and is actually effective. The Bird Advocacy Foundation has proposed a permanent ethical management solution tailored specifically to these sites. With government support, this project could become a leading example of humane evidence-based wildlife management in Victoria.

The Bird Advocacy Foundation team includes Emeritus Professor Gisela Kaplan and Mark Jurisevic, both internationally recognised experts in bird behaviour and wildlife management. They were the architects of the ethical permanent bird management solution scientific trials, which were conducted under commercial conditions across a range of settings including almond orchards, vineyards, grain storage facilities and local government sites. The trial reports demonstrate that effective long-term alternatives to lethal control exist when we invest in innovation rather than destruction. This is an opportunity for Victoria to adopt a different approach, one that is kinder, smarter and effective in the long term.