BIRDS, BUDGETS, AND UNHAPPY FAMILIES
"RECREATIONAL" NATIVE BIRD SHOOT: HALF-TIME SCORE
Above: Victorians are not happy. After numerous unanswered letters and invitations for the Premier to come and witness the impact of bird hunting on regional families, members of the community have funded billboards near the Premier's office in her electorate of Bendigo East.
Same Horror, Different Year.
Roughly half-way through Victoria’s “recreational” native quail and duck shoot, and here’s the score:
Threatened species have been left in the line of fire. While it’s estimated only 150-200 White-bellied Sea-eagles remain in the wild and the presence of just two of them is meant to trigger government action (aka closure of the area to shooting), community reports of these birds at wetlands around the state, were ignored by the government in the lead-up to the shooting season.
Illegally shot threatened species were collected by volunteer members of the public in the first five days of the shooting, despite authorities' monitoring efforts having been boosted with a "surge" force of additional taxpayer-funded staff.
Some residents have described living in a “warzone”, with reports of gunfire blasting early morning, into the darkness of night (outside legal times) and authorities nowhere to be seen. It seems authorities have been more focused on arresting members of the public trying to rescue injured birds, than on monitoring hunters' compliance.
An MP being banned from Victorian wetlands, has highlighted the one-sided nature of Victoria’s laws which favour hunters (who represent less than half of one percent of the population) –while the public are locked out of public areas.
Another Council has spoken out against native bird hunting - as it should – on behalf of its rate-payers and native wildlife. “We want our native wildlife to not only survive but to flourish…” and “All children should feel safe in their homes”
And the "independent" regulator's "report illegal hunting" system has not improved.
Above: The futility of reporting illegal hunting. A "panel" considered a report of suspected illegal hunting 9 days after it was made, and found there was " insufficient evidence". This is a typical outcome. Many communities don't bother making such reports, resigned to the belief they are "on their own".
Times have changed since the 1950’s. One in four Victorians live rurally. Any member of government concerned with safety, or the social/economic health of the regions, would make it their business to know how many of their constituents live near shooting, when (if ever) risk assessments were done, and demand the results of a cost-benefit analysis (which has never been done). What are the costs to community, for example of lost tourism, impact on mental health, or lost ability to work from home?
Thankfully, reports from many around the state are that this year’s “recreational” bird shoot has been a flop. It appears the minority activity has become almost socially unacceptable of its own accord, despite the Victorian government’s eye-watering financial support.
Above: Another community-funded billboard message in busy Central Bendigo.
Budget Bias - "Helping Families??"
The tally for Labor's funding for hunting/shooting in Victoria since 2014 is circa $100 million already.
And yet now, in tough times while cuts are made to our health systems, hunting has been given millions more in taxpayer funding.
A front page story in Herald Sun May 9, highlighted an $11m cut to medical research funding, including cancer projects. And the Minister’s media release boasts another $11.6m to promote duck and quail hunting – a minority choice of recreation in which less than half of one percent of the population partake; most Victorians want it banned as it has been banned in other states.
Priorities seem clear.
Further significant sums are outlined in the new Victorian budget, curiously hidden in the government’s new bundling of “hunting, fishing and boating” which gets an astonishing budget allocation of $106.4 million next financial year, for the entertainment of a relative few.
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