2016-09-01
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — People in Victoria oppose duck shooting based on the cruelty that is involved in the annual duck shooting season, but one of the other reasons Victorians, including the Greens, oppose duck shooting is that many protected bird species are shot on Victorian wetlands every year. By way of question on notice 5344, I asked the minister:
How many protected bird species have been shot on Victorian wetlands since the opening of the 2016 duck shooting season?
The response I received from the minister was that government agencies have recovered four protected waterbirds that had been illegally shot. Given that the Coalition Against Duck Shooting in their recovery on the wetlands have recovered more than 100 illegally shot protected species, I ask the minister: which government agencies were involved? I was very surprised at the answer of four. Which methodology was used by those agencies to recover those birds?
Ms PULFORD (Minister for Agriculture) — I thank Ms Pennicuik for her question and her interest in these matters. There is always a multi-agency presence for duck season to ensure that all participants are abiding by the rules and arrangements that are put in place, and I will provide a written response to Ms Pennicuik.
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — Thank you, Minister, for your answer, and I look forward to the written response. It just gets more surprising, if there are multi-agencies involved and if they are out and about on the wetlands for the full three months, that they have managed to only recover four protected waterbirds that have been illegally shot. We know, for example, that at least 23 freckled ducks were recovered by the Coalition Against Duck Shooting, 23 Australian and blue-winged shovelers, 44 coots and Eurasian coots, 1 red-necked avocet — which I saw myself — and various other birds that are protected birds and should not be shot on the wetlands. So my follow-up question is: could you supply me with the species of the four protected waterbirds that you say were illegally shot and where they were shot?
Ms PULFORD (Minister for Agriculture) — I thank Ms Pennicuik for her supplementary question, and I will provide her with a written response.