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    End Wildlife Killing in Victoria

    Every year, Victoria authorises the killing of hundreds of thousands of native animals through a permit system most Victorians have never heard of. We've already called for a review of the Authority to Control Wildlife (ATCW) system – but the Victorian Government has just finished its own reform process, and it proves a review alone won't fix this.

    Since 2009, Victoria has issued more than 53,000 ATCW permits, authorising the killing of over 2.4 million native animals across 80 protected species.

    In 2024, ATCW permits authorised the killing of more than 176,000 native animals, including over 110,000 Eastern Grey Kangaroos and nearly 2,700 wombats, a 30% jump on the year before. In 2025, the total climbed again, to 230,673 animals.

    Victoria's Environment Minister has since announced updates to the 50-year-old Wildlife Act, including stronger penalties for illegal killing. But this does nothing to fix a system where killing is legal, routine, and growing. And as part of its own reform process, the government explicitly ruled out mandatory shooter competency training, application fees, and minimum damage thresholds: the kind of basic safeguards you'd expect before authorising someone to kill a native animal.

    Fifty years on, the Wildlife Act still treats native animals as a problem to be managed, rather than a form of life deserving genuine protection.

    We are calling on the Victorian Government to:

    1. End the routine use of lethal ATCW permits as a first response to human-wildlife conflict.
    2. Make non-lethal deterrents a mandatory first step, not just an encouraged one, before any lethal permit is considered.
    3. Introduce mandatory shooter competency standards and independent, animal-by-animal compliance checks.
    4. Publicly report ATCW outcomes in full – not just permit totals, but what actually happens once a permit is issued.
    5. Recognise native animals as sentient beings deserving genuine protection under Victorian law.

    Threatened species are included in the wildlife ATCW permits have targeted since 2009: including the Brolga, the Grey-headed Flying Fox, and the Broad-shelled and Murray River Turtles. Every permit issued is a step closer to extinction for our precious native animals.

    Enough is enough.

    Native animals deserve better than being counted as numbers on a permit register. It's time for the Victorian Government to end the routine killing of our wildlife.

    End Wildlife Killing in Victoria

    6,275 Signatures Collected

    Only 3,725 more until our goal of 10,000

    To the Hon. Jaclyn Symes MLC, Minister for Environment

    I urge you to end the routine use of lethal Authority to Control Wildlife permits in Victoria. Make non-lethal deterrents mandatory before any lethal permit is considered, introduce real compliance checks, and recognise native animals as sentient beings who deserve genuine protection under Victorian law – not administrative problems to be managed away.