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Parliamentary speeches and updates for Georgie Purcell MP - Sitting Week 20th-22nd June 2023
Speeches this week include a Question Without Notice on the Fox and wild dog bounty program, Constituency Questions on Macedon Kangaroos & Bendigo Kangaroos and her Member's Statement on Westside Community Desexing Clinic.
As she has done each sitting week, Georgie reads in a notice of motion on greyhound deaths and injuries on Victorian race tracks. This week she also read in a notice of motion on bow hunting.
20th June 2023 Constituency Question - Macedon Kangaroos
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria): My constituency question is for the Minister for Outdoor Recreation. The commercial kangaroo-killing program in Victoria slaughters our native icons under the cover of darkness and turns them into pet food, footballs and soccer boots in what is the largest land-based slaughter on the planet. Now it is moving into the central shooting zone, which includes Mount Alexander and Macedon Ranges shires. This will allow the barbaric slaughtering of over 82,000 grey kangaroos in the area, the largest quota in this state. The carnage will also leave my constituents stressed, anxious and traumatised in their own homes. Given the devastation floods and fire already cause our wildlife and considering the dedication of local rescuers, carers and community protecting wildlife, my constituents want to know if the minister will reverse this decision.
20th June 2023 - Notice - Motion on Bow Hunting
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria): Thank you, President, I give notice on the next day of meeting, I will move that this house notes that;
1. Bow hunting of introduced species such as foxes and deer is unregulated in Victoria,
2. Unlike crossbows anyone can purchase a bow and arrow without a license and the weapon is not required to be registered
3. The risk of native wildlife being illegally shot was raised in this house on the 30th of May 2023,
4. On the 2nd of June 2023 two kangaroos were found illegally shot on private property in Woodend leaving a newborn joey orphaned,
5. On the 10th of June 2023, an Australian wood duck was found at the Mildura Marina with an arrow protruding from their torso and later died,
6. Nearby residents of Mildura Marina fear for the safety of their children and pets as illegal hunting intensifies,
7. Bow hunting is banned in Tasmania, and South Australia has recently committed to a ban,
and calls on the government to stop the killing of native wildlife by illegal bow hunting.
21st June 2023 - Notice - Motion on greyhound deaths
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria): Thank you, President, I give notice on the next day of meeting, I will move that this house notes that;
1. Victoria is second in the country for on-track Greyhound deaths in 2023,
2. 16 greyhounds have been killed on Victorian race tracks in 2023,
3. 1596 greyhounds have been injured on Victorian race tracks in 2023,
4. There have been 357 major greyhound injuries on Victorian race tracks in 2023 representing a 41% increase from this time last year,
5. There have been 325 serious greyhound injuries on Victorian race tracks in 2023 representing a 45% increase from this time last year,
6. Victoria leads the country in the number of serious on-track greyhound injuries in 2023 by a shocking 56%,
7. As a result of these injuries, there has been significantly more off-track deaths in 2023 and Victoria leads the country with 36 off track deaths,
and, calls on the government to acknowledge that despite their in their investment in safety improvements dogs continue to die.
21st June 2023 - Question Without Notice - Fox and wild dog bounty program
Substantive question, GEORGIE PURCELL — To ask the Minister for Agriculture:
My question is for the Minister for Agriculture. New research has revealed that most dingoes in Victoria are actually purebred. Comprehensive DNA testing has disproved a longstanding and deadly myth that has allowed a cruel bounty program to continue since 2011 in Victoria. This research confirms what ecologists, First Peoples and animal advocates have been demonstrating for years – that there is no such thing as a wild dog. It also means that not only does this government sanction the slaughter of endangered native dingoes, but it will literally pay landholders over $100 for each one that they kill. A 2021 inquiry into ecosystem decline in Victoria recommended greater protection for dingoes, including reviewing the fox and wild dog bounty program, but a response from the government is long overdue. In light of the recent findings, will the minister step in and end the outdated and unscientific fox and wild dog bounty program in Victoria?
Substantive question - verbal response, Gayle TIERNEY (Minister for Agriculture)
I thank Ms Purcell for her question. Predator pest management does cut across agriculture and environment, and I am sure Ms Purcell is absolutely aware of that. Effective control of larger predator pests is complex, and there are lots of policy implications in relation to it. I understand and I am advised that Victoria has probably one of the most nuanced positions in respect to our current position, and it will always be a challenge to strike that balance of conservation, agriculture production and of course animal welfare in an area like this, and of course community and stakeholder engagement is incredibly important and is key to this whole area.
We are aware of the new research that is coming forward at the moment, and the department is looking at all of that. Essentially it is about the genetic status of free-ranging dogs. We have got teams within the department that are considering the policy implications, but currently the policy is that lethal and non-lethal control methods form part of the current integrated approach to predator pest management. Lethal control measures are targeted to agricultural areas considered to be of highest risk of livestock predation, and the department works with landowners to support the uptake of non-lethal control techniques, such as fencing and the use of guardian animals to protect livestock production. That is the current policy, and as I have said, the department has active policy teams looking at the most recent research that has become public.
Supplementary question
I thank the minister for her response. Dingoes are exempted from protection where they are deemed to pose a risk to livestock. However, the sheep industry’s own research states that more than 80 per cent of lamb deaths are due to farm management practices, including breeding for multiple births and repeat exposure to the cold. In the last year as little as 0.0056 per cent of Victoria’s sheep population was reportedly attacked. In the same period over 1000 dingoes were killed through cruel trapping and bounty programs. On top of that, it is unknown how many are killed by 1080 poison baiting. Can the minister advise the total number of reported livestock attacks compared to sanctioned dingo deaths in Victoria?Supplementary question - verbal response
This is a fairly detailed question, but I have sought advice on this on a previous occasion. What I can let Ms Purcell know is that, in terms of the number of attacks, it is around 3500. In terms of the total livestock that have been reported killed or maimed, there have been something like just under 15,500 of those, and that is between the years of 2011 and 2022. Over the same period – and I do not actually like describing it as such, but to give you an accurate sort of visual on how this is worked – body parts for 4629 wild dogs were collected through the bounty program. These figures illustrate, I think, the complexity of the policy that is being considered.
21st June 2023 - Members Statement - Westside Community Desexing Clinic
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria): Last week I was pleased to meet Ella, who was waiting in line to be desexed at Westside Community Desexing clinic. She is a rescue kitten and just one of a whopping 3500 cats and kittens that Westside have desexed since their opening 18 months ago. Across Australia each and every year many thousands of cats lose their lives due to an overbreeding crisis. Kittens are cute, but we certainly do not need any more of them in this state. One undesexed female cat and her offspring can produce up to 2000 kittens in just four years. But the main reason people do not desex their companion animals is not because they do not want to or do not understand the importance of it, it is because they cannot afford it. The cost-of-living crisis and decreasing access to affordable vet care is only worsening this problem. Westside is filling this gap, providing low-cost desexing and vouchers for eligible Victorians and working with a range of councils on programs to encourage Victorians to do the right thing and ensure their cats are not breeding. I want to thank Westside for having me visit but, most importantly, for providing such a vital program that I hope others in this place and the other place can support too.
21st June 2023 Constituency Question - Bendigo Kangaroos
Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria): My constituency question is for the Minister for Environment. Correspondence from 13 May stated that Development Victoria has given the go-ahead to disturb a mob of 40 kangaroos to allow development for the Commonwealth Games village at Flora Hill, Bendigo, to proceed. Residents, wildlife rescuers and veterinarians have been appealing to developers for months to safely relocate wildlife before their habitat is demolished. Exclusion fencing has already gone up, and it is only a matter of time before the beloved mob are inhumanely herded across busy roads into built-up areas or inappropriate bushland. Without intervention, this plan will be lethal. Mismanaged dispersal of wildlife is inhumane. It only leads to deaths and increased road strike, which also poses a danger to humans. My constituents want to know why native wildlife has been sacrificed to make way for the Bendigo Commonwealth Games village.
