The Game Management Authority — responsible for regulating recreational duck shooting in Victoria — is facing serious new allegations. A recent media investigation has revealed that GMA officers are turning a blind eye to illegal hunting on the wetlands while some are actively participating in the duck shooting season they are supposed to oversee.

Sadly, none of this comes as a surprise from a troubled agency that the Premier has charged with both the regulation and promotion of shooting. 

This exposé has once again sparked the same question wildlife advocates have been asking the government for years: How can the shooting promoter ever be trusted to carry out the important role of regulator?

Last year in Victoria, an estimated almost half a million native birds were killed by shooters, not including the significant number who are shot but abandoned.

Recent media has revealed: 

• GMA staff presenting at a promotional duck shooting event in the Premier’s own electorate, self-identifying as duck shooters themselves. During this presentation, an officer speaks to shooters about their targeted focus on wildlife rescuers and gives shooters advice on how to avoid fines.

• Previous GMA staff  have come forward to speak of systemic conflicts and biased behaviour worsening in recent years.

• Wildlife rescuers unfairly targeted by the GMA, including one rescuer who was apprehended and fined for carrying a net to rescue wounded birds.

• Accounts from former GMA board members who voiced concern about consistent conflicts between the regulatory and promotional functions of the agency.

The Game Management Authority is no stranger to controversy. In 2017, an independent report was commissioned after the agency failed to prevent an out-of-control wildlife massacre on Victoria’s wetlands. The results of the Pegasus review were damning and found: 

• Ineffective compliance and enforcement:  Non-compliance with hunting laws was widespread among shooters, and the GMA was perceived as unable to regulate these laws or sanction offenders effectively.   

• Governance and structural issues:  Governance and operational issues were identified, including a lack of routine evaluation of compliance and enforcement efforts.   

• Perceived bias and conflicts of interest: The GMA was seen as vulnerable to capture by the same interests it was meant to regulate, leading to bias and a lack of impartiality in administering hunting laws.  

The most fundamental recommendation of the review was rejected by the government: that the GMA be stripped of their regulatory authority. These recent allegations indicate that the very issues identified nine years ago continue to plague the regulator.

Since the Premier’s decision to allow controversial duck shooting to continue against the recommendation of her own parliamentary inquiry, the GMA have been accused of unfairly and inappropriately targeting wildlife rescuers, and further restricting members of the community from public wetlands — leading to even less oversight of shooting activity. It has also meant that the few volunteers willing to risk entering the wetlands to rescue injured birds left by shooters, face thousands of dollars in fines for offering them compassion and alleviating their suffering. 

Meanwhile, shooting continues to occur completely unsupervised across most public and private wetlands in the state, despite evidence of shooter incompetency, cruelty and risks to public safety. 

(Left) Children as young as 12 are not only allowed, but encouraged to shoot native birds for ‘fun’ in Victoria. 

(Right) Recent media reports have identified wildlife rescuers are being unfairly targeted by the GMA and are increasingly fined for alleviating suffering caused by shooters on the wetlands.

Instead of addressing the ongoing failure of the Game Management Authority, the Premier has instead chosen to legislate it through the proposed new Outdoor Recreation Bill.  Currently before Parliament, this legislation would be disastrous for wildlife, with the active promotion of hunting across even more areas of the state being enshrined into law. 

Let decision makers know that the duck shooting regulator cannot also be a promoter and urge them to scrap the Bill.  

Ongoing failures and conflicts that pervade the Game Management Authority can only be properly and finally addressed by removing their regulatory authority. Please urge your MP to stand against the Outdoor Recreation Victoria legislation.