Herald Sun

VICTORIA’S controversial duck shooting season has come to an end for the year, and activists hope it won’t be repeated.

Mitch Clarke, 18 June 2022

The state government’s decision to call a 2022 season enraged MPs in the party, and the Labor caucus was divided on the matter.

Several Labor MPs told the Herald Sun in March there was “great disappointment” from within, after hopes the hunt would be outlawed were dashed.

Duck shooting is only permitted in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

Laurie Levy, from the Coalition against Duck Shooting, said it would be smart for Labor to pledge to end the practice as an election commitment, because “they would take votes away from the Greens if they did”.

“The Labor Party is moving towards a policy that animals are sentient beings, yet the violence and cruelty that duck shooters inflict on our native birds is just outrageous and it’s unacceptable,” he said.

“It might have been something that happened in the 1950s when you had a Bolte Liberal government, but when it’s happening today under a progressive Andrews Labor government, it doesn’t make sense.”

A spokeswoman from the Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting group said people living around Victorian waterways were “breathing a sigh of relief” at the season’s end.