Sophie Conlon
Birds SA has welcomed a Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry report encouraging the state government to end the recreational hunting of native birds and is calling for similar action in South Australia.
The inquiry had eight key recommendations including ending the annual recreational native duck and quail hunting season opening on all public and private land from 2024 and retaining Traditional Owner hunting rights.
A Birds SA spokesperson said they hoped an inquiry, currently taking place in South Australia, would heed similar results.
“The SA Inquiry will hear the same or very similar evidence – there is no reason why it should not come to the same conclusion to end the hunting of native birds,“ the spokesperson said.
“This would then bring SA in line with the other states that have banned duck hunting decades ago.“
The Victorian inquiry received mixed reviews with BirdLife Australia backing the findings and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party saying the select committee had taken a “ride on the emotional bandwagon led by minority animal activists“.
Despite mixed feelings across the border, Birds SA have applauded South Australian deputy premier and minister for climate, environment and water Susan Close and the Malinauskas government for instigating the South Australian inquiry, expected to be handed down in December or January 2024.
“We now urge the SA government to read the Victorian report and to use that information to accelerate this SA Inquiry,“ the spokesperson said.
“We also call on the Malinauskas government to declare no duck and quail hunting season for 2024 pending legislation to permanently ban this cruel, archaic activity in South Australia.“
As part of the ongoing South Australian inquiry The Australia Institute found a permanent ban on native bird hunting in South Australia was supported 76 per cent of the public and would have minimal impact on the state’s economy.
The Australia Institute SA director Noah Schultz-Byard said native bird hunting was deeply unpopular, benefited very few people and imposed costs on the community,
“Ending native bird hunting would have a minimal impact on the economy and would provide substantial benefits to residents and businesses near hunting areas,“ he said.
“Claims that hunting is economically significant rely on biased survey results and economic modelling techniques that make no consideration of environmental costs.
“It is time to do what a majority of South Australian people, and presumably birds, want and end this cruel and economically damaging practice.”
