Modernisation of Victorian Public land legislation a good start, but ignores the massive Parks estate

ADA Editor

Public land access for hunters has been central to the mission of the Australian Deer Association since our beginnings back in 1969. Along with prosecuting sound wild deer management, it is our reason for being.

There is no jurisdiction in Australia where as much public land is enjoyed as often by as many hunters as Victoria.

We don’t seek merely to defend that access, to “guard the gate” (as important as that is); as the number of deer hunters grows, we actively advocate to grow the access and opportunities for them.

Public land in Australia should be open for deer hunting where no good demonstrable reason exists for us to be excluded.

Public (Crown) land in Victoria is regulated by an antiquated and byzantine body of legislation.

From 1958, with the drafting of the Forests Act, specific legislation emerged to govern public land for different purposes.

The result of sixty-three years of tinkering is a system that is interlinked and overlapping, with areas with similar characteristics and management objectives often managed under different legislation and with land management agencies (such as Parks Victoria) having to manage a patchwork of land under different legislation.

It’s a mess.

The Victorian government has commenced consultation on a process which purports to be “Renewing Victoria’s public land legislation – in reality it is renewing some of that.

By excluding the National Parks Act (and closely related legislation) it is excluding consideration of more than 4 million hectares of the 8.8 million hectares of public land in that state – just under half.

The National Parks Act (1975) is a decade older than the average Victorian who uses and values this massive area of public land and it was written in the context of co-existing and complimenting the other legislation which is now under review.

Under this current process the National Parks Act will be subject to some minor tweaking, but will essentially remain unchanged…it’s like finally upgrading to a new Land Cruiser from the old FJ45 but insisting on still having drum brakes on the front end.

The consultation paper outlines a number of, ostensibly minor, proposed changes to land categories and descriptions.

One of those is to retitle “State Game Reserves” as “Wildlife and Game Reserves” – it’s semantics (at this stage), but we will advocate that the name “Game” should take precedence in order to highlight the primary function of these iconic parcels of public land.

We will be closely engaging with this process as it evolves in order to drive the best possible outcomes for hunters, hunting and wild deer management.

All hunters (whether you live in Victoria or not) are urged to take the short survey on the DELWP website:

In Question 11 (other comments) you should make it clear that you value access to public land for recreational deer hunting and that it should be permitted throughout the public land estate where there is no good demonstrable reason for its exclusion. You should also make it clear that Victoria’s 200 State Game Reserves are highly valued for hunting and that hunting and game management must be enshrined in any new legislation as their primary purpose.

In Question 12 you should tick “Other” and type in “Recreational deer hunting”.