Aussie Vets Call on Victorian Government to Ban Duck Hunting

Ducks wade in floodwaters in Richmond, a suburb outside Sydney on March 25, 2021, as flood-stricken residents along Australia's east coast began a massive clean up effort following days of floods. (SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia’s peak vet body has supported the Victorian government’s move to ban duck hunting despite strong resistance from unions.

This came after a Labor-led parliamentary inquiry in 2023 recommended the government end recreational native bird hunting on all public and private land from 2024. The committee included the left-wing Greens and Animal Justice Party’s.

The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) said the move would bring Victoria in line with “progressive animal welfare standards” across the country.

Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania are the only states where recreational duck-hunting is legal. In New South Wales (NSW), ducks can only be hunted on private land under the Native Game Bird Management Program as part of pest control efforts.

The AVA cited a study that revealed nearly one-third of hunted birds were wounded in shooting but not retrieved. This had resulted in “crippling injuries such as wing, bill, and leg fractures, leading to prolonged suffering and increased vulnerability to predators.”

“As veterinarians, it is our responsibility to prioritise the well-being of animals, and the current state of duck hunting in Victoria raises serious concerns,” said AVA’s Victorian Division President, Cathy Deague on Jan. 18.

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“We believe it is the right time for the Victorian Government to reassess its stance on duck hunting and take the final step towards a complete ban.”

In August 2023, Ryan Batchelor, chair of the legislative council select committee, expressed concerns about animal welfare issues associated with native bird hunting and the long-term decline of the native bird population driven by habitat loss. 

Unions Strongly Opposed Duck Hunting Ban

But prohibiting duck hunting is not a unanimous decision, with 39 percent of Labor voters opposing the move.

The proposal has also met with resistance from the centre-right Coalition, the unions, and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers (SFF) parties.

Derek Christopher, assistant secretary of the Construction, Forestry, and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU), said a survey of members showed 85 percent of them want the union to “campaign for the right to enjoy the outdoors, including their right to hunt.”

Meanwhile, the Building Industry Group (BIG) of Unions, which represents over 85,000 blue-collar workers, criticised the ban as a “back door deal” between the Labor government and the Animal Justice Party, whose policies include banning fireworks on New Year’s Eve, banning horse racing in the Melbourne Cup, and banning cured and processed meats.

“A government that truly respected working people would not yield to niche, inner-city activists but would support the working-class pursuits of those it claims to represent,” the BIG union said in a media release in August 2023.

“The government’s recent indifference to our members’ outdoor rec weekends is disgraceful. It is not enough to deliver nice press releases and have photoshoots with workers on their large infrastructure jobs, whilst at the same time continuing to restrict and attack those same workers’ right to outdoor recreation, including hunting.”

Liberal MP Evan Mulholland, who led a petition calling on the Allan government to protect duck hunting, described the inquiry as a “stitch-up.”

He argued that duck hunting is a “cultural activity that has been handed down between generations of families.”

“It’s a chance for hard-working Victorians to spend time with their mates and to connect with nature,” he said.

Jeff Bourman, MP of the SFF party, said the efforts to cancel the duck-hunting season were a “yearly ritual.”

“The science says a take of up to four birds a day will not impact the sustainability of ducks in Victoria; therefore, that announcement should be made immediately,” he said in 2023, according to Sporting Shooter.

“To do this would be nothing more than pure grubby politics, as their own data says the season is sustainable and their own government authority has confirmed that no hunters were over the bag limit last season.”

Inquiry Findings

According to the inquiry into Victoria’s recreational native bird hunting arrangements, hunting has little impact on game bird populations because “mortality impacts from hunting, predation, starvation, malnutrition, and disease are not additive but are compensatory.”

“Competition for food is often reduced when hunting or predators remove some animals from the population, and therefore fewer animals die from starvation, malnutrition, sickness or disease.”

The inquiry noted that duck hunting is sustainable and regulated in Victoria.

“Victoria’s Game Management Authority reports exceptionally high compliance with regulations—99.9 percent for duck hunting and 100 percent for quail in 2022.

In 2019, Victorian hunters contributed $356 million and brought over 3,000 jobs to the Victorian economy, with most in regional Victoria.

“If native bird hunting is banned, some regional towns that are particularly reliant on hunting expenditure would be adversely affected,” the report noted.

“The areas of regional Victoria that benefit from native bird hunting include many regional communities that have been adversely affected by contraction in economic activity caused by the Andrews government’s forest, energy and water policies.”

“Loss of wetland habitat is the key issue affecting waterbird populations and hunting has a very small effect that is considerably overridden by loss of habitat.

“Hunting does not put a dent in the population given the biology of ducks—they are prolific breeders.”