Government-led parliamentary inquiry recommends end to duck shooting in Victoria for all but Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians could be exempt from any statewide duck shooting ban in a move some Aboriginal elders warn would fuel racial tensions.

Duck hunting will be banned in Victoria if the recommendations of a report are accepted. Picture: Supplied

Indigenous people could be exempt from a statewide ducking shooting ban if parliament adopts the recommendations in a new controversial report, however, First Nations advocates warn that having separate rules would fuel racial tensions.

A Labor government-led parliamentary inquiry handed down its long-awaited native duck shooting report on Thursday, which has called on the Andrews government to outlaw native duck hunting in Victoria as early as next year.

But, one key recommendation has called for allowing “traditional owner hunting rights to be retained”, meaning local Indigenous people would be exempt and could continue to shoot, and hunt ducks using traditional methods, with impunity.

Traditional elder Ian Hunter warned the move would most certainly “cause friction” between recreational duck hunting enthusiasts and Indigenous groups.

“If we are allowed to do it then everybody should be allowed to do it. Otherwise it will cause friction between the different groups”, Mr Hunter told the Herald Sun.

A duck hunter at Lake Connewarre. Picture: Supplied

Dja Dja Warrung group CEO and First Peoples’ Assembly member Rodney Carter said he also had concerns.

“The problem is (if we were) allowed to do something that other Victorians can’t do, and that’s no fault of ours if the state takes away someone else’s enjoyment. But this is really glaring that we can hunt and gather but other Victorians can’t, and there probably will be people in these types of activities that will be a bit disgruntled,” he said.

Victorian Traditional Land Owner Justice Group executive member and First Peoples’ Assembly member Gary Murray said no person – regardless of their heritage – should be able to hunt ducks.

“Traditional owners shouldn’t be shooting ducks – whether they use guns or not. I don’t believe in guns because they present a danger not only to the ducks but also to the people who use them and also the people in that environment,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Herald Sun exclusively revealed that more than 85,000 Victorian workers would be urged to down tools and walk off major government construction sites in Victoria if the Andrews Government brought in a ban.

Four key building unions – including the powerful CFMEU, ETU and unions representing plumbers and metal workers – have slammed a ban being considered by parliament and would “encourage our members to walk off government jobs, to attend political protests to defend their rights to outdoor recreation”.

A $2m war chest has also been established to fund a campaign against any move to curtail recreational activities – a clear warning shot to government to not infringe on the pastimes of blue-collar workers.

Duck shooting near Geelong. Picture: Alison Wynd

After the report was released yesterday, Electrical Trades Union state secretary Troy Gray said: “With this farce of an inquiry over, it is now on the government leadership to decide if it will stand with working-class communities and work in good faith to improve and maintain this important recreation or side with fringe animal rights activists”.

If the highly emotive practice is banned, it will bring Victoria into line with other states – including New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, which made the sport illegal in 1990.

Over 10,000 public submissions were made to the inquiry, the most ever received by a Victorian parliamentary committee.

Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, who has been rescuing ducks for more than 10 years, said it was impossible to have an “ethical or sustainable” season.

“Our only option is to ban it. I’ve seen the cruelty, the death and the destruction that goes on out there and I hope to never have to see it again,” she said.

RSPCA Victoria CEO Liz Walker said it marked a “crucial step” in protecting ducks.

Committee chair and Labor MP Ryan Batchelor said the ultimate decision to recommend a ban was due to environmental factors, population numbers and animal welfare concerns.

Fellow Labor colleague and committee member Sheena Watt, who ultimately voted with the government, released her own minority report to fulfil her “cultural obligations” by calling for the continuation of hunting for Victorians, particularly First Nations.

The committee has been slammed with allegations it was “biased” and “stacked” with an anti-duck hunting group of MPs from Labor, the Greens and Animal Justice Party.