The Victorian Government on Monday announced its response to parliament’s inquiry into the state's recreational native bird hunting arrangements, confirming hunting will continue “with important changes to ensure it remains safe, sustainable and responsible”.
The news that duck season will continue has been welcomed by the organisation that represents the state’s recreational hunters, Field and Game Australia, as well as the Victorian Nationals.
“We are grateful to the Victorian Labor Party for its decisive leadership action in rejecting the parliamentary select committee's previous recommendation to prohibit hunting,” FGA CEO Lucas Cooke said.
“This move not only honours Australia's deep-seated hunting tradition but also recognises the essential role of hunting in our ecosystem.”
However, he said the announcement was “soured slightly by news that 2024 will be a modified season”.
Shadow Agriculture Minister and Nationals MP Emma Kealy said the “biased recommendations of the inquiry simply had to be rejected”.
“As we have said all along, duck harvesting is sustainable, safe and has huge economic benefits,” she said.
As media speculation swirled on Monday morning that the Allan Government would reject the findings of the parliamentary inquiry, upper house MP Georgie Purcell, from the Animal Justice Party, expressed her dismay.
The State Member for Northern Victoria said she wanted to make it clear that if duck hunting went ahead, she would no longer work with the government “the way that I have in the past”.
“They’ve treated me with disdain, they’ve treated the community with disdain and most importantly, they’ve treated our native waterbirds with disdain,” Ms Purcell said in a Facebook post.
“I genuinely thought that the outcome of this inquiry would be positive.”
Outdoor Recreation Minister Steve Dimopoulos said duck hunting was a legitimate activity “but more than that, it supports regional communities and economies”.
“Our position has not changed and we’re supporting recreational duck and quail hunting to continue in a safe, sustainable and responsible way with minimal harm to our environment.”
Mr Dimopoulos accepted the Game Management Authority’s recommendations for a 2024 duck season starting on Wednesday, April 10 and ending on Wednesday, June 5.
Hunting start times will be delayed to 8am for the entire season.
With a daily bag limit of six ducks per day, the blue-winged shoveler and hardhead cannot be hunted for the 2024 season due to their threatened status.
Determinations will be made as part of normal seasonal arrangements about sites where duck hunting will be prohibited.
More than 10,000 people and organisations expressed their views about duck hunting to the inquiry — the biggest response to a parliamentary inquiry ever in Victoria.
The government will accept seven of the committee’s eight recommendations in full or in principle.
Changes that will come into force from 2025, include:
- Improving hunters’ knowledge and skill by making education and training for hunters mandatory.
- Stricter compliance levels, including further penalties for hunters breaking the rules.
- Banning the use of lead shot for quail hunting.
- Implementing the Waterfowl Wounding Reduction Action Plan, to reduce the risk of wounding.
- Greater recognition of Traditional Owners’ knowledge of hunting and land management.
The government said to guide the length and conditions of each duck season, the science-based Adaptive Harvest Management process will be implemented from 2025 — making sure that it’s always science that guides the season.
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