As Victoria prepares for a change of Premier, it is important to acknowledge the leadership Jacinta Allan has shown on shooting, hunting and outdoor recreation over the past three years.
Since becoming Premier in September 2023, Ms Allan led a Government that approached these issues in a consultative, pragmatic and largely evidence-based way. We did not agree on every issue, nor did the Government adopt every position advocated by SSAA Victoria, but we were consistently listened to, treated respectfully and engaged as legitimate stakeholders. It is an approach we hope will continue under the next Premier.
It is our clear view that, had Daniel Andrews remained Premier through late 2023, recreational duck hunting in Victoria would almost certainly have been banned. Premier Allan instead chose a different path. She supported reforms that strengthened sustainability and animal welfare while securing a future for an important social, cultural and economic activity. In doing so, she expended considerable political capital within her own Cabinet and Caucus. It was not the easiest political option, but it was the right one. The two duck seasons since have been characterised by full-length seasons, scientifically determined bag limits through Adaptive Harvest Management and a welcome absence of political interference.
Her Government also recognised the broader contribution of hunting and shooting to Victoria. Premier Allan attended every Hunters for the Hungry game meat BBQ hosted by SSAA Victoria at Parliament House, engaging not only with participants but with the concept of using sustainably harvested wild game to help address food insecurity. She also engaged positively with SSAA Victoria’s inaugural Responsible Shooting Expo at Parliament in 2024.
The Allan Government opened the Snowy and Errinundra National Parks to recreational deer stalking, invested $2.5 million to improve access to the Eagle Park shooting sports complex at Little River, ruled out the creation of new National Parks, introduced legislation to establish Fishing, Hunting and Outdoor Victoria with, for the first time, an explicit legislative mandate to promote hunting as a legitimate outdoor recreation activity and contributor to regional Victoria.
Following the Bondi Beach terrorist attack, Premier Allan also resisted the temptation to pursue the sort of rushed, reactionary firearms legislation adopted elsewhere. Instead, her Government commissioned an independent review and, while we did not support every recommendation or every element of the legislation before Parliament, the Government engaged seriously with stakeholders before making its decisions. As a result, a number of the review’s most extreme proposals, including firearm caps, mass recategorisations and forced buybacks, were not adopted.
SSAA Victoria remains opposed to aspects of the Bill, particularly the proposed citizenship requirements affecting permanent residents, and the potential denial of natural justice and financial burden inherent in the proposed Commonwealth vetting scheme. Nevertheless, we recognise that the final outcome is significantly more measured than it otherwise may have been, and that achieving that more measured outcome required the Government to expend political capital that many others would have been unwilling to spend.
It would be easy to dismiss Premier Allan’s support for evidence-based policy on shooting and hunting as political pragmatism. Certainly, our own research demonstrates that fair treatment of Victoria’s 250,000+ shooters and hunters is good politics, particularly in the outer metropolitan and regional electorates that will determine governments for years to come.
But that explanation is incomplete. Born, raised and still living in regional Victoria, Jacinta Allan has long understood that responsible hunting, recreational shooting and fishing are simply part of life for many Victorian families. She and her own family regularly spend time fishing in Victoria’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters.
For more than two decades, and particularly during her time in Cabinet, she was one of the strongest advocates within Government for a fair and balanced approach to these issues. She understood that they deserved to be governed by evidence rather than ideology, and that the people who participate in them deserve to be treated with respect rather than prejudice.
Victoria’s shooting and hunting community owes Premier Allan a genuine debt of thanks for that leadership.
