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
NEWS 
