Ongoing advocacy is priceless

FEATURE TROPHIES

The political scene and the wheels of bureaucracy are constantly changing. With cyclical elections being the apparent headline, there is also a constant change behind the scenes in the wheels of government via the departments subject to staff changes, much like any other large organisation.

As new people move into roles in parliament or the catacombs of bureaucracy, it is a crucial pillar of our advocacy work to engage and inform them of our policy positions and build a working rapport that, ideally, leads to productive outcomes.

This is an ongoing reality of advocacy as it reacts to personal and government policy changes. A current example of this is at play in Victoria. With the end of native timber harvesting, recreational deer hunters find themselves in a unique position with serious consequences for their lifestyle in large parts of the Victorian central highlands.

There is an ongoing push to reclassify land that, for the most part, is now state forest, which enables recreational deer hunting, stalking and with dogs, to a National Park. The change in tenure from state forest to National Park would have several impacts on hunters. First, no dogs are allowed in National Parks, so hound hunting and hunting with your gun dog would be prohibited. Creating a new National Park would also require changing the National Parks Act 1975 to list any new park allowing hunting, such as what already occurs in the Alpine National Park.

Recreational deer hunting in National Parks is made possible by the game status of wild deer, which regulates the hunter and not the animal. Without game status, hunting wild deer would not be possible in any National Park. Such nuance would be lost if it weren’t for the ADA’s ongoing advocacy work. With the impending changes, I continue to engage widely within the government to help ensure these nuances are appreciated and considered during policy settings. This is no guarantee, but without organisations such as the Australian Deer Association actively advocating these issues, recreational deer hunters could likely suffer from adverse policy settings, even by accident.

With the creation of The Great Outdoors task force and recognition as a stakeholder, we find ourselves in a much better position than before, but the battle is far from over.

March also saw Tasmania hold an early state election. In this election, the Liberal party was re-elected to form a minority government, leveraging support from the Jackie Lambie Network and one of three independence parties. This is another period of change, but due to ongoing advocacy work, a solid policy position exists to prosecute. Election commitments provided to the ADA and Tasmania’s Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan, which the ADA worked tirelessly to help shape, underpins a large portion of this. In the new environment, we continue to work to ensure it is prosecuted in the intended form and continue to deliver better outcomes for wild deer management in Tasmania.

These are examples of the value of being a member of the Australian Deer Association. We say what we do and do what we say, and we will never stop advocating on behalf of wild deer management and public land access.