Hunting on land licensed for grazing is legal under the legislation despite government policy
The major hunting organisations, including SSAA Victoria, have been involved in ongoing discussions with government on hunter access to public land subject to grazing licences in Victoria’s eastern mountains.
This issue has been around for many years but has come to the fore over the past 18 months. Additional grazing licences were issued over significant areas of public land open to deer hunting, potentially reducing hunting opportunities for Victoria’s licensed hunters by a significant amount.
DELWP has operated under a policy of hunters having to gain the permission of licence holders to access land licensed under the Lands Act. This policy originated out of a mistaken interpretation of land held under a grazing licence being considered as “private property” by the department. The use of firearms on private property is controlled under the Firearms Act and requires the permission of the owner.
Fortunately the Australian Deer Association sought independent advice and found that the issuing of grazing licences over state forest does not make the land private property. Therefore it does not require the permission of the licensee to hunt on it. This advice was provided to Government and stakeholder meetings were held to look at cooperative ways to move forward.
A meeting was held on June 15 and included representatives from various government departments, SSAA Victoria, ADA, Victorian Hound Hunters, Victorian Farmers Federation and the Mountain Cattlemen’s Association. The meeting was constructive and all indications were that government would accept the legal advice and that the department policy would change.
A recommendation was to be provided to the relevant minister on that basis. The hunting organisations agreed to work together and communicate the changes to their members. They also agreed to stress the importance of respecting the cattlemen’s rights to graze their cattle in the areas and to be mindful of limiting hunting impacts on the cattlemen’s operations, especially during mustering.
The hunting organisations have at no stage suggested that the cattlemen should not be allowed to continue grazing and fully respect their rights to do so. State forests are public land and should be available for multiple use activity. One particular groups’ right of use and access should not adversely affect any other.
The hunting groups all agreed to act in good faith and wait for the change of policy before making any public announcements. Unfortunately that good faith has not been respected. Stakeholders were advised yesterday by Will Guthrie, DELWP Land Policy Director, that the minister had concerns about the change of policy and would not be announcing any change.
However, the fact of the matter is that current DELWP policy regarding grazing licences and hunter access has no basis in legislation. Hunters are legally entitled to hunt on public land held under grazing licenses in the state’s eastern mountains.
It is unacceptable that government policy is contrary to legislation. It would be expected that Minister D’Ambrosio would make changes to DELWP policy that bring it into line with the legislation immediately, before the caretaker period begins on October 30.
This is general information to members and pertains to the large areas of state forest land held under grazing licences in the deer hunting areas of the east of the state. It is important for hunters to not confuse leased and licensed land. Leased land is completely different and is legally defined to be private property. Grazing licences held for riparian areas, small areas of land adjacent to farms, unused roadways and the like have not been included in the legal advice and should continue to be treated as private property. It is the individual hunters’ responsibility to ensure that it is legal to hunt in the area where they intend to hunt.
The Association encourages members to use all areas of state forest available for deer hunting. The Association also reminds members of the Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics that they are bound by. All users of the bush have a right to be there and should be treated with respect. If cattle are grazing in areas where you hunt ensure you minimise disturbance and be particularly mindful of mustering times.
David Laird, Hunting Development Manager