Another Victorian PubLicly funded flop

Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting Inc.
May 20
3 min read

...most subdued duck shooting opening ever

2026 Duck opening newsletter

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/3f2134_38c3870dc4de42c0b55f5b24cdf5fafc/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

While many communities around the state reported a quieter start to the shooting season, Victoria's public waterways were nonetheless hardly a Visit Victoria advertisement.

Above: The sights and sounds of Victoria's public waterways March to June. (Note the little native coots in the foreground, whose response to threats is often not to fly away, but rather to vocalise and stay their ground).

Few birds, few shooters, but plenty of angst

Communities around the state have reported the fewest number of duck shooters in years. It seems the regulator's claim of millions of ducks has been shot down. The poor shooters who turned out to bag their birds were no doubt disappointed.

"Gosh, they must all be hungover, it's so peaceful...hopefully it stays that way"

- resident living near a public waterway where duck shooters had set up camp the night before.

Despite the Victorian government's eye-watering sums of public subsidies, the number of licensed duck shooters continues to steadily decline, now representing less than a third of one percent of the population.

According to the Game Management Authority (GMA), half this tiny number aren't even "active" - that is, they don't go shooting.

But shooters still caused angst. Groups of them set up camp at obscure locations in Gippsland where perhaps they thought they'd be out of sight (sorry fellas - we still saw you). Residents nearby described their mornings as sounding "like Ukraine".

Elsewhere, wildlife shelter animals recovering from the January fires were panicked.

"So here I am cleaning my wildlife shelter and making sure everybody has food and they're safe, and the sounds of shotguns have just ripped up the skies like its New Year's Eve and in quick succession" - Wildlife shelter operator caring for burns victims

And the usual illegal night-time shooting at wetlands near Shepparton kept authorities busy.

Left: A little Teal found shot and left hanging on a swing,

Day 1 of Victoria's "recreational" native duck shoot.

Best use of taxpayer funds?

The thought of how much public money has been poured into government promotion of this year's duck shoot is acutely painful.

More officers than ever were deployed around the state - from GMA, Vic Police, Parks Victoria, even Forest Fire Management Victoria. Were they monitoring shooters though, or members of the public who are not permitted to enter many public areas because they don't shoot ducks? (It's true, unless you have a licence to shoot native birds you are not permitted to enter many public areas. What a fabulous interpretation of Victoria's Charter of Human Rights.)

And helicopters were again chartered by GMA - we are told for "compliance monitoring". It's difficult to understand how they can do anything about illegal shooters from the air. But they certainly succeeded in terrorising stock and pets when circling over residents' homes, seemingly oblivious to the shooters 800m away.

Collateral damage

Reports of nesting White-bellied Sea-Eagles made a week ago to authorities, have still not been investigated.

Meanwhile, shooters are unwittingly killing ducks with unhatched young - heartbreaking when we need them to be breeding to recover numbers.

It's not rocket science to deduce that recent rain after protracted drought may encourage some breeding. What's not clear, is why GMA wasn't alert to this possibility, failing to close some of the thousands of waterways open to shooters, to protect breeding females.

Many would agree, there is no social licence for shooting nesting female waterbirds.

CFMEU & Jacinta, is there a link?

Every year, it's the same old question, WHY.....IS....THIS...STILL...HAPPENING in Victoria?

Well, few could forget the dummy spit of a couple of union bosses at the thought of losing duck shooting.

Recently, there's been more in the papers about possible links between the Premier and said unions, and their possible influence over her decisions, such as overturning the key recommendation of the government's own Parliamentary Inquiry into Recreational Native Bird Hunting - ie to BAN IT.

See Herald Sun here.

Commentary on social media goes further. It seems many people - including shooters - believe the reason the Victorian Premier permits native bird shooting is closer to home - her husband.

The Premier has never disclosed on her parliamentary register that her husband is a bird shooter, so perhaps he isn't. But the book was thrown at Nationals MP Bridget McKenzie for non-disclosure during the "sports rorts" saga. So perhaps the Premier's dogged support and funding for Victoria's minority recreation of bird shooting deserves further scrutiny.