National Call For The Federal Government To Permanently Ban The Recreational

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17th November 2008, 07:33am - Views: 1213





Conservation Animals Coalition Against Duck Shooting 1 image

MEDIA RELEASE                        17 November 2008


National call for the Federal Government to permanently ban the 

recreational shooting of native waterbirds

 

More than 135 conservation, animal welfare and political groups nationally are calling on the Environment

Minister Peter Garrett, to adopt a national strategy to ban the recreational shooting of native waterbirds. 

 

ALP Members Opposed to Duck Shooting (ALP MoDS), a lobby group within the ALP, has presented a

joint Common Position Statement to federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett. The statement calls on the

Minister to (a) ban duck shooting on all Commonwealth land, (b) on RAMSAR wetland sites throughout

Australia, and (c) negotiate an intergovernmental agreement with the Victorian, Tasmanian and South

Australian governments, to bring them into line with the other states that have banned the activity. 


Peak national organisations that have endorsed the statement include World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Birds

Australia, Bird Observation and Conservation Australia, RSPCA (Australia), Australian Conservation

Foundation, The Wilderness Society and the Greens Party. 


Trevor Poulton, spokesman for the lobby group, said: “The Commonwealth is a signatory to the

international RAMSAR Convention giving it direct responsibility for significant areas of Australia’s wetlands

known as RAMSAR Sites, being ‘Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat’.

Under the RAMSAR Convention the Commonwealth is obligated to work in partnership with the States to

conserve Australia’s wetlands through the promotion of their ecological, cultural, economic and social

values.” 


Trevor Poulton said:  “The endorsements represent a unique and powerful convergence of organisations

across Australia which recognise that duck shooting undermines our precious wetlands and bird species.

This is a matter of national environmental significance and the federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett

should not pretend that it is simply a State issue.  For a start, Mr Garrett has a direct responsibility to ban

the activity on Commonwealth controlled land.  


“Given community concern over the ethics of duck shooting, combined with declining bird numbers,

diminishing wetlands from drought and climate change, as well as inconsistent policies of the

states/territory governments on duck shooting, there is an urgent need for the federal government to

develop a national approach to the issue.  


“The Common Position Statement puts pressure on the Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian state

governments and the Commonwealth at a time when Professor Kingsford of the University of NSW is

conducting an historic national aerial survey of wetlands.  Results of his previous surveys show that

waterbird numbers across eastern Australia have decreased by a dramatic 82% over the past 25 years.


Trevor Poulton said:  “Minister Garrett has rightly condemned the Japanese for unethical whaling. However,

unless the Minister becomes proactive by ending the unethical and barbaric slaughtering of our native

waterbirds, then Australia could be condemned as a hypocritical nation. The Common Position Statement

provides the Environment Minister with a practical framework for the reform - to ban duck shooting on

Commonwealth land and RAMSAR wetlands and negotiate with the remaining duck shooting states of

Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, for a complete ban across Australia.” 


Contacts: 


Trevor Poulton - Mobile: 0402 987 181  ALP Members Opposed to Duck Shooting (ALP MoDS) 



Laurie Levy - Mobile 0418 392 826  Coalition Against Duck Shooting






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