I also rang the Victorian Government’s Minister for the Environment and it was very interesting on all fronts. There has been an article recirculating on Twitter about Wombats being able to be shot in Victoria by rich people who want to hunt while they are in Australia. In 2020, the Victoria state government 'fixed' a legal loophole which allowed wombats to be shot for sport. Now, if someone wants to kill a wombat in Victoria, they can do so if they acquire a permit.
I wanted to know if the original story was true. When I worked for a Minister a hundred million years ago, the phone used to ring and our constituents were able to speak with his or her staff (very few women as Ministers in those days by the way). Now, you have to ring into a call centre. So, I left a polite message asking if the story was true.
About 14 minutes later a staffer from her office returned my call, but did not leave her surname, her title nor her phone number and I have heard nothing since.
Do I think it is true? Yes I do. So, if it is true and you can shoot a Wombat because they are a pest in Victoria, then it stands to reason, that you might be able to shoot a Koala because they are considered a pest in South Australia and Victoria. I wanted to ask the Minister that question. I still do, so perhaps her office can actually give me a ring and see whether it really is true that we would sell out our native wildlife for “consumptive tourism”, which is a nice word for “killing wildlife.”
I am enraged by the whole process.
The Koala Manifesto is coming.
Deborah
