Hunting (duck & native birds): Where Australian Political Parties Stand

Each position below is sourced exclusively from the party's own published materials — never from media coverage. Click a party for its full platform, donors and members. Individual members' own stated positions are on their record pages.

Liberal Party party platform

Tasmanian Liberal policy (state division) commits to maintaining current hunting seasons and hunter access to game species including wild fallow deer, wallaby, duck, quail, muttonbird and pheasant, and to continuing the Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan 2022-2027.

A Strong Plan for Recreational Hunting

Australian Greens party platform

The platform calls for a ban on recreational hunting in state forests and national parks and a ban on recreational shooting of native water birds (duck shooting), with an exception for First Nations people exercising cultural practices.

Animals | The Australian Greens (archived copy)

Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party party platform

The party's firearms policy supports the right of Australians to use firearms for hunting, recreational shooting, sport and pest management, and states no further stringent licensing measures are required. It supports supervised participation of juniors under 16 in shooting sports and the use of noise-suppression devices for hunting and pest control, while backing stronger penalties for unlawful firearm use and trafficking.

Firearms Ownership - One Nation

The Nationals party platform

Victorian Nationals material (state division) states that hunting and sports shooting are important recreational activities, that licensed firearm owners — farmers, sport shooters, hunters and recreational users — rely on firearms for legitimate, lawful purposes, and that the party will always stand up for law-abiding firearm owners, including opposing proposed firearm ownership caps.

Nationals reinforce support for firearms owners at packed forum

Animal Justice Party party platform

The party seeks an immediate ban on recreational hunting, including recreational duck and quail shooting, opposes shooting flying birds with shotguns regardless of purpose, and supports strengthening the National Firearms Agreement to remove access to guns for lethal control or recreational shooting of animals, including prohibiting recreational shooting and hunting in national parks and state reserves.

Wildlife Protection - AJP National

Libertarian Party party platform

The party's self-defence policy states that professional and recreational hunters contribute to positive environmental outcomes by reducing populations of pest animals such as foxes, pigs, goats, wild dogs and feral cats, and supports individuals and organisations being able to establish facilities such as hunting reserves and shooting ranges.

Self Defence - Libertarian Party

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party party platform

The platform states support for greater public access to public lands for recreational hunters, fishers and four-wheel-drive/off-road enthusiasts, and describes conservation hunting as a legitimate cultural, environmental and economic activity, including proposing a dedicated Conservation Hunting Licence and Conservation Hunting Authority. It also asserts the right of law-abiding citizens to own and use firearms for hunting and other recreational purposes.

Outdoor Recreation and Access - NSW Policy

Katter's Australian Party party platform

The platform states that Australians must have the freedom to pursue outdoor recreational activities of their choice, including hunting, shooting, fishing, boating, camping, four-wheel driving, horse riding, rock climbing, swimming and bushwalking, and that every law-abiding citizen should have the right to own firearms.

Values & Principles

Recorded divisions on hunting (duck & native birds) · 9

Every recorded vote on a bill filed under this issue, in each parliament the site holds a division record for — second and third readings, plus any amendment listed with a reason. How each member voted is on their record.

Outdoor Recreation Victoria Bill 2026Merges the regulators for game hunting and for fishing into a new body, Outdoor Recreation Victoria. It keeps their regulatory roles and also takes on promoting outdoor recreation and access to public land.Second reading · Victoria · Legislative Council · Question agreed to. 30–718 Jun 2026 ↗
Outdoor Recreation Victoria Bill 2026Merges the regulators for game hunting and for fishing into a new body, Outdoor Recreation Victoria. It keeps their regulatory roles and also takes on promoting outdoor recreation and access to public land.Third reading · Victoria · Legislative Council · Question agreed to. 29–718 Jun 2026 ↗
Outdoor Recreation Victoria Bill 2026Merges the regulators for game hunting and for fishing into a new body, Outdoor Recreation Victoria. It keeps their regulatory roles and also takes on promoting outdoor recreation and access to public land.Second and third reading · Victoria · Legislative Assembly · agreed to 77–34 Jun 2026 ↗
Crocodile Control and Conservation BillA private member's bill from Shane Knuth (Katter's Australian Party) that would set up a Queensland Crocodile Authority in Cairns, solely responsible for crocodile management. It would create zero-tolerance zones where crocodiles reported in populated waters are killed or moved to a farm or sanctuary, run annual removal programs along the populated east coast, raise egg-harvesting limits, let traditional owners hunt or remove crocodiles on private land with the owner's consent, and let landowners have crocodiles removed from their property.Second reading · Queensland · Legislative Assembly · Resolved in the negative under standing order 106(10). · names not recordedFewer than five members voted on one side, so under standing order 106(10) the record prints only the result, not the names.9 Dec 2025 ↗
Parks and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Central West and Other Matters) Bill 2025Creates the Mount Buangor, Pyrenees and Wombat-Lerderderg national parks, the Cobaw and Hepburn conservation parks and Mirboo North Conservation Park, and adds Wellsford Forest to Bendigo Regional Park. It also allows seasonal recreational deer hunting by stalking in parts of the three new national parks and in Errinundra and Snowy River national parks.Second reading · Victoria · Legislative Council · Question agreed to. 22–1718 Nov 2025 ↗
Parks and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Central West and Other Matters) Bill 2025Creates the Mount Buangor, Pyrenees and Wombat-Lerderderg national parks, the Cobaw and Hepburn conservation parks and Mirboo North Conservation Park, and adds Wellsford Forest to Bendigo Regional Park. It also allows seasonal recreational deer hunting by stalking in parts of the three new national parks and in Errinundra and Snowy River national parks.Third reading · Victoria · Legislative Council · Question agreed to. 22–1718 Nov 2025 ↗
Parks and Public Land Legislation Amendment (Central West and Other Matters) Bill 2025Creates the Mount Buangor, Pyrenees and Wombat-Lerderderg national parks, the Cobaw and Hepburn conservation parks and Mirboo North Conservation Park, and adds Wellsford Forest to Bendigo Regional Park. It also allows seasonal recreational deer hunting by stalking in parts of the three new national parks and in Errinundra and Snowy River national parks.Second and third reading · Victoria · Legislative Assembly · Question agreed to. 54–2716 Oct 2025 ↗
Motion on deer hunting in national parksNoted the scale of recreational deer hunting in Victoria (over 48,000 game licences held to hunt deer, around 140,000 deer killed a year) and its economic contribution, and called on the Government to open appropriate parts of national parks, at suitable times, to licensed recreational deer hunters.DEER HUNTING · Motion · Victoria · Legislative Council · Question agreed to. 32–613 Nov 2024 ↗
Motion to establish a select committee on recreational native bird huntingEstablished a nine-member select committee to inquire into and report by 31 August 2023 on Victoria's recreational native bird hunting arrangements, including the annual hunting seasons, arrangements in other jurisdictions, their environmental sustainability and impact on amenity, and their social and economic impact.SELECT COMMITTEE — VICTORIA’S RECREATIONAL NATIVE BIRD HUNTING ARRANGEMENTS · Motion · Victoria · Legislative Council · Question agreed to. 20–159 Mar 2023 ↗

Votes are shown as the official record lists them — Hansard federally and in New South Wales; Votes and Proceedings, Minutes of the Proceedings and Hansard in Victoria; the Record of Proceedings in Queensland; the Votes and Proceedings and Minutes of Proceedings in Western Australia; the Votes and Proceedings (House of Assembly) and Hansard (Legislative Council) in South Australia; the Votes and Proceedings of both chambers in Tasmania. "Did not vote" means the member held the seat that day and is on neither list — the record says who was in the chamber, not why, so it is never an abstention. Western Australia’s record prints no pairs, so a member paired there shows as did not vote. Nothing is shown for a presiding officer who by law gives only a casting vote (the Speaker and the President in South Australia, the President in Tasmania), nor for the member presiding at a Tasmanian division, which Tasmania’s journals record. Which bills sit under which issue is an editorial choice, made bill by bill with a reason read from the second-reading speech. A bill decided by an earlier parliament (Queensland’s 2018 abortion law reform, for one) is shown with that parliament named, read from the official record of the day. For Queensland and the federal parliament “did not vote” there means the member held a seat that day, as their service is recorded; for the other earlier parliaments the record of who held a seat could not be read, so only the printed Aye, No and paired votes are shown.