Battle to ban duck hunting: a numbers game

Anti-duck hunting groups say Labor is “unlikely to suffer an electoral backlash” if the annual harvest is banned.

Hunters will “band together to fight any attack on any form of hunting”, says former Field and Game Australia chairman Danny Ryan. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting have renewed its call for the Allan Labor Government to ban the annual harvest, arguing it’s “unlikely to suffer an electoral backlash” given it is just “the hobby of 14,000 blokes”.

An RVOTDS analysis of marginal electorates found duck hunters represented less than 1 per cent of voters in key marginal electorates.

But former Field and Game Australia chairman Danny Ryan said the analysis failed to count all hunters in each electorate, who would “band together to fight any attack on any form of hunting”.

“An attack on one is an attack on all,” Mr Ryan said, with GMA records showing there were 59,682 people licensed to hunt game in Victoria in 2022-23.

The RVOTDS analysis of Game Management Victoria data stated there were 308 licenced duck hunters in the marginal seat of Bass, with “Labor’s 2022 winning margin” of 202 votes.

Yet the GMA data shows there are 1467 game licence holders in Bass, with Victorian Electoral Commission results showing the Liberals would have needed just 102 extra votes to win the seat at the last election – half Labor’s winning margin plus one.

The anti-duck hunting group also claimed the seat of Ripon was not at risk, given there were just 530 licenced duck hunters in the electorate.

But again GMA data showed there were 2220 licenced hunters in Ripon, with the Liberals needing just 1268 votes to win it back.

The RVOTDS volunteers issued a media release last week stating “bird hunting is a minority choice of recreation in which only around 14,000 folks (mainly men) take part, but which causes so many of the rest of us much angst”.

“If a poll were taken asking voters if millions of taxpayer dollars should be spent supporting the hobby of 14,000 blokes, or on conservation of our unique wildlife – let alone reducing cost of living – what do you think they’d say?”

Consumer Affairs Victoria records show RVOTDS has five registered members.

Sporting Shooters Association Australia (Victoria) hunting development manager David Laird said “we are confident that the government will see through this amateur-hour attempt at political data analysis”.

“The notion that the government should ban any activity that some people don’t like, on the basis that ‘only 14,000’ Victorians actively participate and that they are ‘mainly men’ anyway, is chilling.

“The tens of thousands of Victorians who enjoy game hunting and the broader quarter of a million recreational shooters in the state deserve and expect more consideration than that.”