Dozens of recreational duck hunters have urged a Victorian parliamentary inquiry not to bow to “political correctness” by outlawing the activity, warning that the banning of meat and other animal products could be next.
Hunters and activists suspect that this year’s duck-hunting season could be the last after the Andrews government in February announced a shortened season and a parliamentary inquiry to examine its future.
The first 150 of 1,700 submissions to the inquiry, made public in recent days, were largely in favour of continuing the practice, with many duck hunters describing it as a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation. But those against the activity pointed to what they argued was cruelty.
On Tuesday, as Victoria’s parliament returned, animal activists displayed ducks killed during the opening days of the season outside the premier, Daniel Andrews’ office.
The coalition against duck shooting laid out 73 birds, including eight illegally shot protected and threatened species, outside 1 Treasury Place while the Animal Justice MP, Georgie Purcell, brought a freckled duck – one of the rarest water birds in Australia – to parliament.
“We love to call Victoria that progressive state. And this is far from progressive. It’s actually shameful that still going on in 2023,” she said.
Purcell said hunters left the birds because they knew they had committed an offence, adding that she would not accept that “tradition justifies cruelty”.
It came after one hunter, Arthur Pap, told the parliamentary inquiry that traditions were being lost to political correctness to “appease minority groups”.
“I hunt to eat as I was taught by my father and his father before him, now I have a son and daughter that I’m teaching with my father to do the same. Organic, clean of added chemicals, and we only take what we need,” Pap wrote in his submission.
An anonymous submission warned the government against banning duck hunting in an effort to pander to the “ludicrous ideologies” of the left-wing Greens and Animal Justice parties.
“Know this … they will never be appeased,” the author wrote.
“Not until they ban fishing, hunting, meat products, horse racing, greyhound racing, cheese, milk, cream etc etc. They will never be happy!”
Huseyin Alpozgen, president of the Australian Cypriot Sport Shooting association, said hunting was a lifestyle that had mental health benefits and injected money into rural communities.
Alpozgen argued that opponents to hunting were attempting to stamp out people’s freedom.
“They are not going to stop if duck hunting stops, they will find another animal to pick on and try to ban it,” they said.
Several submissions referred to cruelty against the animals.
Patrick Medway, secretary of the Australian Wildlife Society, said shooting native and protected species should not be permitted in modern society.
“Leave the hunting and gathering to those people who depend on this source of food for survival, not a cruel sport which has collateral damage to other protected species,” he said.
Olivia Doyle said having grown up on a farm and seeing birds dying a slow death due to hunting, she backed outlawing the practice.
Tuesday’s demonstration outside government offices is a tradition traced to 1986 when the coalition against duck shooting’s leader, Laurie Levy, staged the first protest after Victorian politicians refused to join rescuers on the wetlands.
Levy said the politician’s refusal to travel to the wetlands meant the activists had to take the “carnage” to them.
Lisa Palma, chief executive of Wildlife Victoria, said information about the 73 ducks shot and left in the field near Donald have been handed to authorities.
“We have provided all of our veterinary evidence and X-ray material to the Game Management Authority [regulator] for further investigation,” Palma said.
