New Sustainable Hunting Action Plan highlights the importance of game hunting

Victoria’s second Sustainable Hunting Action Plan (SHAP) was launched at a function at the Melbourne Museum on 6 December 2021.

The SHAP outlines a $5.3 million program of initiatives to be delivered by the Government and partners over four years. The vision of the plan is an essential statement about the role of game hunting in modern society:

To grow the economic, environmental and social benefits of responsible, sustainable and safe hunting.

Agriculture Minister, The Hon Mary-Anne Thomas MP makes a forceful case for Government support for hunting in her foreword:

Victoria abounds with recreational hunting opportunities, and with more than 60,000 licensed game hunters, renewed investment in supporting programs, growing interest in wild foods and increasing recognition of the benefits of outdoor pursuits, hunting is on the up in Victoria.

This government continues to support safe, responsible and sustainable hunting. We recognise the social and economic benefits that it brings to our rural communities. To ensure the long-term future of game hunting in Victoria, it is vital that the hunting community ensures sustainability and responsible behaviour are the hallmarks of this increasingly popular pursuit. Government will share the science that underpins decisions and we must all support the Game Management Authority to ensure hunting is well regulated.

Notably, the plan clearly recognises the vital role that game deer hunting plays in underpinning sustainable game hunting more generally in Victoria. Of the 60,000 licenced game hunters in Victoria, a staggering 82% are licenced to hunt deer. Amongst the broader initiatives to support game hunting more generally, the plan includes specific commitments to adequately research the role recreational deer hunting plays in deer management in Victoria and a repeat of the hog deer abundance and distribution study to further our collective understanding of this critical game species.
The plan concludes by giving a taste of the future direction for game hunting in Victoria, which is crucial given the once in a decade review of the regulations early next year.

Whilst plans are fantastic, it’s results that matter. As we did with the inaugural SHAP, the ADA will join industry colleagues to develop Key Performance Indicators’ KPIs’ for this new SHAP. We will publish the performance of all of the actions against these KPI’s publicly every six months. This clear, consistent, and objective accountability was pivotal in the inaugural SHAP achieving most of what it promised – we are both confident and hopeful that this new SHAP can do even better.

With elections due in South Australia early next year and New South Wales a year later, we will be taking opportunities to highlight to political parties across Australia the value of these commitments from Governments.

You can download the SHAP here.