Labor duck hunting ban: will “alienate” workers in ALP heartland

A duck hunting ban will alienate workers, who are the bedrock of the Victorian Labor Party, says ETU boss Troy Gray.

Troy Gray addresses 800 Electrical Trades Union members, after they walked off the Metro Tunnel project over fears duck hunting will be banned. Picture: Facebook

Over decades as a union official, I can’t count the number of conversations I’ve had with

workers about their recreation. Camping plans, a new boat, bosses refusing leave and

each year before the duck and quail season, someone asks, “is it going ahead this

year?” and “what’s the union doing about it?”

Protecting recreation has always been core union business. In 1856, when Melbourne’s

stonemasons downed tools, they demanded eight hours of work, eight hours of rest and eight

hours of recreation. That recreation is under threat if the Andrews Government chooses

to end duck and quail season.

I will be the first to point out that duck hunting can be a divisive issue, and a lot can be

done to improve the season. Training, local land management, wounding reduction, and

determining the seasons length, backed by science, are all viable improvements.

Those who campaign against the season fail to understand what it is. Duck and quail

season is a harvest where friends and families who have hunted for generations travel

across Victoria, generate income for local businesses, camp, spend quality time

together, and collect food.

How could anyone object to quality time with family, safely and sustainably collecting

free-range local feed? If you don’t object to fishing, you can’t object to the harvest –

that’s the fundamental choice the government is facing.

Outdoor recreation is a working-class pursuit; on any long weekend, you will see four-

wheel drives and utes with gear piled in. These workers and their families travel to all

corners of Victoria to enjoy the pursuits they love. These are workers who used to drive

en masse from the Ford Factory in Geelong to shoot under the moonlight, until that was

stopped decades ago. These are the maintenance, manufacturing, power industry and

construction workers from Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Gippsland and Melbourne’s

north, west and east who spend every moment post-Christmas planning their harvest

season.

Even if you don’t hunt, every worker who enjoys the outdoors has experienced a locked

gate, degraded track, closed campsite, or restriction on doing what they and their family

love to do in the bush.

The reality is these workers I mention are also the bedrock of the Victorian Labor Party.

The same people for generations have voted for Labor and are now one of the groups

Labor relies on to build a solid foundation for its electoral success. Why would the

government risk alienating blue-collar voters in marginal seats over a ‘goat cheese

curtain’ issue?

The scientists who presented at the recent parliamentary inquiry outlined that the main

driver of duck numbers was land and water, and that hunting had a limited impact.

A report commissioned by the government, which was withheld until after the inquiry,

noted that a sustainable percentage of harvest could be maintained in Victoria.

With the inquiry now over, the government has a choice: maintain a safe and

sustainable harvest season or alienate responsible hunters in ALP heartland while

cowering to an inner-city crowd enjoying their Peking duck in Little Bourke

Street.

Troy Gray is the secretary of the Electrical Trades Union Victorian branch.