Thursday, 10 September 2026

 Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (09:56): I rise to celebrate the end of Victoria’s disastrous little anglers program. For the past three years the government spent millions of taxpayer dollars distributing tens of thousands of fishing kits to Victorian primary school children. People hated it. Year after year my office has received complaints from parents and teachers questioning its appropriateness, and I agree: the decision for a child to fish is not one that should be made by the state. But there was another dark side to little anglers that took the government far too long to acknowledge: the impact that it had on wildlife. Soon after its commencement, volunteer wildlife rescuers were inundated with calls about native animals that had become entangled in discarded fishing line and hooks, including flying foxes, kookaburras, platypuses, seals, tawny frogmouths and swans. In fact Wildlife Victoria documented a 158 per cent increase in call-outs for entanglement cases since the program was rolled out. What is worse is that, despite many reports and complaints, education on responsible disposal was never incorporated into the curriculum when rods and kits were rolled out in schools. Instead of supporting our volunteer wildlife rescuers, who already face so many challenges, it meant another avoidable burden was placed on them to respond to. Encouraging children to go outdoors should not come at a cost to animals and the environment, and connecting children with nature should mean teaching them how to respect it. The end of the little anglers kits program must mark a shift towards giving children the tools to love wildlife rather than the weapons to kill them.