2007 & 2008 Moratoriums called in Victoria and South Australia. The rescue team travelled to Moulting Lagoon, the entrance to Freycinet National Park, on the east coast of Tasmania to confront the shooters and protect waterbirds after the Tasmanian government refused to call a moratorium. 2008 Three states in Australia have now banned the recreational shooting of native waterbirds – Western Australia (1990), New South Wales (1995) and now Queensland (10 August 2005) 2005 Queensland’s Premier Beattie becomes the third state Labor government to ban the recreational shooting of native waterbirds. The Age editorial (19 March) again calls for the recreational shooting of native waterbirds to be banned in Victoria. The numbers of duck shooters in Victoria drops from 95000 in 1986 to 19,400 today, although only small number were active on the state's wetlands in 2005. View our Opening Weekend 2005 article 2003 The Sunday Age editorial (12 January) calls on the Victorian Bracks Government to ban the recreational shooting of native waterbirds in Victoria. The Victorian government calls a moratorium. Rescue team travels to Tasmania for the opening weekend of their duck shooting season. 2002 The Bracks Government's own Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC) recommends that the recreational shooting of native waterbirds be banned in Victoria because of the inherent cruelty. 2001 Lead shot banned in Victoria. 1995 Premier Bob Carr bans the recreational shooting of native waterbirds in NSW, the second state Labor government to ban the activity. 1993 The Age newspaper editorial (24 March) calls for duck shooting to be outlawed. The first sentence says: 'Duck shooting is not a sport, it is an obscenity'.1990 The recreational shooting of native waterbirds is banned in Western Australia by the then Labor Government. |