The Victorian government has announced a parliamentary inquiry into the future of duck hunting, while allowing a shorter season to go ahead this year.
The Game Management Authority (GMA) on Friday confirmed the season would begin on 26 April and end on 30 May, with a bag limit of four birds a day.
This is about a month shorter than the average season, which runs from the beginning of the third week of March until the second week of June. The 2022 season was also longer, running from 16 March until 13 June.
As with last year’s season, hunters will be prohibited from shooting the blue-winged shoveler and hardhead duck in Victoria this season, given both were recently listed as threatened due to declining populations.
In a statement coinciding with the announcement of the 2023 season, the state’s outdoor recreation minister, Sonya Kilkenny, acknowledged the issue of duck hunting in Victoria has become “increasingly contested”.
She said given the “deeply held views on the subject”, the government will move to establish a legislative council select committee to examine recreational native bird hunting in Victoria.
The committee will have wide-ranging terms of reference, including the operation of the annual recreational native bird hunting seasons, arrangements in other Australian jurisdictions, their environmental sustainability and impact on amenity, and their social and economic impact.
The committee will hold public hearings for hunting associations, animal welfare groups and regional communities and will have to hand down a final report by 31 August.
The Animal Justice party MP Georgie Purcell said she would be doing everything she can to get on the committee.
“A duck shooting season will proceed in Victoria. I am truly lost for words. Modifying length or bag limit does not stop the cruelty and suffering,” she posted on Twitter.
“This has been announced alongside a parliamentary review and I’ll be doing everything I possibly can to get on the committee.”
The Victorian Greens’ animals spokesperson, Katherine Copsey, said it was outrageous that, despite the vast majority of Victorians wanting an end to duck shooting, the government had yet again decided to allow the season to go ahead.
“We know Victoria is in the midst of an extinction crisis and we know thousands of water birds are already under extreme stress. So to green light this year’s season and send countless more ducks to slaughter for ‘sport’ is nothing short of inhumane,” she said.
“We need to end duck shooting once and for all and recognise it for what it is: glorified animal cruelty.”
Victoria’s announcement mirrors that of South Australia, which announced an inquiry into recreational native bird hunting at the same time it confirmed its 2023 season earlier this year.
Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania are the only remaining Australian states to allow duck hunting, with the practice banned in Western Australia in 1990, in New South Wales in 1995 and Queensland in 2005.
There are about 23,000 licensed duck hunters in Victoria, though it is estimated only 11,500 participated in the 2022 season.
It is estimated more than 260,000 ducks were killed during last’ year’s, though the RSPCA estimates the wounding rate could be between 6% and 40%.
“Assuming a median wounding rate of 17%, the wounding rate would be 44,636 ducks. While RSPCA Victoria would like to see no birds wounded, this current rate of wounding is unacceptably high,” the animal welfare organisation wrote in its submission to the GMA ahead of the 2023 season.
The RSPCA said two out of three Victorians are opposed to duck shooting.
Several Labor MPs, including Lizzie Blandthorn, Josh Bull, Jordan Crugnale, Katie Hall, Gary Maas and Steve McGhie, have publicly called for an end to the sport, while senior cabinet ministers have reportedly expressed they want it banned.
