Court bid to ban duck shooting dismissed

A LAST-MINUTE court bid to prevent hunters from descending on Victorian wetlands and shooting ducks was unsuccessful, prompting reports of a dozen shooters visiting Lake Connewarre on Wednesday, March 16.

The Federal Court’s Justice Helen Rofe dismissed two emergency injunctions brought by the Coalition Against Duck Shooting (CADS) seeking a stop to the season, the first on Tuesday last week and the second on Friday, March 18.

Each was dismissed on similar grounds of failing to meet standards for an urgent injunction, but Laurie Levy from the anti-hunting group said a full Federal Court hearing was now expected in coming months and could put a halt to future seasons if successful.

“Whilst we can’t stop this season going ahead, we may be able to stop future seasons going ahead under the EPBC Act (Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation),” Mr Levy said.

“Someone has to take responsibility for native water birds, the Victorian government doesn’t do that, the federal government doesn’t do that.”

CADS argue that before the state government can call a duck shooting season, it must check with the federal government as to what species are present in the wetlands, primarily those protected under the Ramsar convention.

“That’s our understanding of it, but that’s never happened and never will happen because the federal government will try and pass off duck shooting as a state issue, they don’t want any involvement in it,” Mr Levy said.

If they did, My Levy said, authorities would have had to acknowledge that several threatened species such as the blue-winged shoveler and hardhead were present in the Ramsar protected wetlands and at risk of being shot.

“Within the first hour of the season opening, we brought out a female Australasian blue-wing, then a male in the next hour,” Mr Levy said of the Wildlife Victoria volunteers present at Kerang.

“In the afternoon we took out another blue-wing and then a hardhead. That job of looking after native water birds, for 37 years, has been done by volunteer members of public putting their lives on the line.

“This should be a government department doing this job, but they don’t, so we have to.

“It’s a terrible job, rips you apart just seeing the suffering these birds are going through just so shooters can have a bit of fun out there.”

Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick described the season opening as “a fizzer” after spotting between 10-12 shooters at Lake Conewarre on Wednesday last week.

“It backs up what we’ve been saying for years that it’s not even popular for shooters, it should be banned like in WA, Queensland and NSW,” Mr
Meddick said.

A spokesperson for the Game Management Authority (GMA) said a person alleged to have shot a threatened species has been identified, and it is reviewing further footage from the first weekend of the 2022 season for other potential breaches.