New outdoor lobby: 100,000 fishers, hunters and unionists fight for access to public land

Unions have joined fishers, hunters and even climbers to fight against government restrictions on access to the great outdoors.

The battle to save duck hunting is just one of the fights the new Outdoor Recreation Advocacy Group is preparing to fight. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

A new outdoor recreation group, representing more than 100,000 Victorian hunters, recreational fishers, rock climbers, bush users and prospectors is due to be launched tomorrow.

The Outdoor Recreation Advocacy Group, which has the backing of the powerful Electrical Trades and Australian Manufacturing Workers Unions, has been formed to fight against restrictions on access to public land.

Members include VRFish, Field and Game Australia, Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (Victoria), Australian Deer Association, the Australian Climbing Association and Prospectors and Miners Association of Victoria.

Field and Game Australia president Danny Ryan said that while it was early days, the group wanted to stop the Victorian Government locking up more public land and fight against some that had already been imposed.

“Every outdoor recreational user has run into some form of gate closure – whether it be physical or regulatory,” Mr Ryan said. “From you can’t put your boat here, to track closures, to prospectors reporting areas being taken away, to rock climbers losing access to the Grampians.”

For hunters, the number one priority is defending duck season, which Mr Ryan said had been restricted on the basis of politics, “not science”.

The decision to form the group came out of a meeting of outdoor recreation groups and the unions last week, prompted by growing restrictions on public land access and the Andrews Government’s recent decisions to restrict duck season and review its future.

An ETU spokesman said: “The meeting was called following the request of countless members of the ETU and other unions for someone to take the lead and stand up for their rights to enjoy the outdoor recreations they love, including duck and quail hunting.

“The meeting had broad range of representatives including hunting and shooting organisations, fishing, rock climbing, prospecting, and others.

“The ETU will continue to work with like-minded groups to ensure our members can continue to enjoy to the great outdoors in a safe and sustainable manner”.

The launch coincides with today’s opening of a restricted duck season, and the Select Committee of the Upper House’s tour of wetlands near Geelong, as part of its Inquiry into Victoria’s Recreational Native Bird Hunting Arrangements tours wetlands near Geelong.