Yesterday’s announcement of a stand-alone Ministry for Outdoor Recreation is cause for cautious optimism for hunters. For decades, hunting has been somewhat of a square peg within the ministries of either Agriculture or Environment. Hunting interests sit more logically with analogous active outdoor pursuits such as fishing and boating.
The ‘General Order’ released late yesterday, however, does cause concern, particularly with the administration of duck season. The General Order is the instrument that officially outlines the division of responsibility between Ministers. The orders go into specific detail about which Minister (or Ministers) have jurisdiction over which Acts and even over which particular sections of certain Acts.
For the past decade, decisions about Section 86 of the Wildlife Act, which includes decisions about seasonal conditions for duck season, have been a joint sign-off between the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for the Environment. These decisions are then gazetted and take legal effect. In recent years this decision has regularly been drawn out and delayed as two departments play tug of war over the decision.
In the ‘General Order’ published yesterday, numerous sections of the Wildlife Act, including section 86, now fall under the responsibility of a triad of Ministers, namely the Minister for Outdoor Recreation, the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for the Environment. Section 87, which deals with ‘Regulations’, including the remaking of the Wildlife (Game) Regulations, is also subject to the same division of responsibilities.
With a restructuring of Government departments also taking place, it is unclear long term whether there will be one or two departments advising the three Ministers. The reality is that nobody has clarity at this early stage about how the new arrangements will work in practice.
SSAA Victoria, along with ADA and FGA, went to the recent state election prosecuting the case for decisions under Section 87 of the Wildlife Act to be delegated to the Game Management Authority (and consequently under the oversight of a single Minister). The Association will continue to prosecute this position. The Association will also continue to remind the Government of its clear, long-stated and, to date, mostly unfulfilled commitments to provide early seasonal announcements and to remove politics from decision-making about game seasons. Regardless of where any of the machinery of government changes land, SSAA Victoria is committed to working productively with the Government to prosecute the interests of Victoria’s shooters and hunters.
In the interim, SSAA Victoria will continue to push for a timely announcement of any variations to what has to be a full-length duck season in 2023.
