The Victorian Government is set to speed up the process of landowners receiving Authority to Control Wildlife (ATCW) permits to kill kangaroos in response to drought conditions being experienced in parts of the state.
Premier Jacinta Allan said on the ABC’s Victorian Country Hour on Friday 13 June that the government would aim to bring the process to under a week, with kangaroos putting ‘extra pressure on farmland.
“We’ll be looking at offering some rebates to help manage this,” she said.
“We’ve got to do it humanely, we’ve got to look at how it can be done through non-lethal control mechanisms, but it’s got to be done.”
The Victorian Government will spend $1.8 million to speed up the provision of both lethal and non-lethal permits for kangaroos and other wildlife through the Conservation Regulator and the kangaroo management rebate.
The kangaroo management rebate is eligible to primary producers statewide and linked to the provision of an ATCW permit.
The Conservation Regulator will fast-track assessments of permit applications that are believed to be low-risk, with the aim of bringing processing times to less than five days on average.
In a media release, Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking said the move to enhance measures to improve the management of kangaroo populations and streamline the Authority to Control Wildlife permit process was also welcome.
“These updates reflect growing concern across rural and regional communities about the impact of overabundant kangaroos on pasture availability, animal welfare, in the light of a sustained drought across Victoria,” he said.
“Farmers need more practical and timely solutions to control kangaroo numbers and this decision by the government gives producers the means to control kangaroos on farm.”
The Star Mail sought to find out whether the Outer East, which is significantly less drought-affected than other areas of the state, would be included and can confirm that the permit process will be sped up statewide, with drought-affected areas further prioritised.
The announcement has drawn criticism from kangaroo advocates, with financial incentives for the harvesting of kangaroos already available through the commercial Kangaroo Harvesting Program (KHP).
Under the KHP, authorised harvesters can control kangaroos on private land and sell the carcasses within an annual quota set by the government. ATCW permits allow landholders to control a specified number of a certain wildlife and sets the method of control, with carcasses unable to be sold.
Founder of the Victorian Kangaroo Alliance Alyssa Wormald said it is 2025, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it was 1925, or even 1825, when learning that Jacinta Allan’s idea of drought relief is making it faster and easier for landholders to kill kangaroos.
“Not only is it deeply unethical, it is totally irresponsible during an ecological and biodiversity crisis where wild mammals make up just 4 per cent of the world’s mammalian biomass,” she said.
“Clearly the real issue is the millions of introduced herbivores, not the wildlife that is perfectly adapted to this landscape, there are an abundance of sophisticated wildlife coexistence strategies that the government should be implementing, but instead all we get is this archaic brutality,”
“It is simply a pathetic cop-out from our intensely disappointing and terrifyingly ecocidal leadership.”
Primary producers can register their interest at drought.support@agriculture.vic.gov.au to receive a notification once the program is open for applications, with more information to be available soon at: agriculture.vic.gov.au/dryseasons
