Winton Wetlands Wasted Opportunity
Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur called on the Environment Minister in Parliament to restore the Winton Wetlands.
The area used to contribute millions of dollars to the local economy through tourism, when it was a popular duck hunting destination before the lake was decommissioned in 2004.
The state government has now spent $20 million over 10 years attempting to restore the wetlands.
However, Mrs McArthur said, “The wetlands are not thriving. Indeed the much-heralded largest wetland restoration project in the Southern Hemisphere has now been memorably described as a barren, man-made disaster.”
“It is an appalling situation given the opportunity which exists. Surely on a 24 000-acre public reserve an area could be made available for managed hunting and crucially for the restoration of wetland habitats which it would require.”
“Visitor numbers could be hugely higher, and public land in the area could be made available to a new generation of Victorians to practise, in a properly regulated and managed way, duck hunting.”
“The site’s convenient location just off the Hume Highway and its popular history of hunting both suggest there is a real chance to convert the Winton Wetlands from a barren drain on the public resources to a thriving popular ecological and economic asset.”
“Despite the track record of Field and Game Australia in conserving and rehabilitating wetlands in our state, shooting organisations have not been invited to contribute in any way to the restoration project embarked upon since 2010.”
“As I know well from the work done at Lake Connewarre in my electorate, hunting organisations do not just talk about environmentalism, they put their time and money where their mouth is.”
“Modification of the regulations and a pilot scheme to reintroduce hunting would permit them to put time and effort into environmental works, weed and pest control, constructing and monitoring nest boxes, tree planting, track and access maintenance, education and so much more.”
Mrs McArthur called on the Minister to “work with Field and Game Australia, who have made this proposal, and the local management committee to bring the site back to life as rapidly as is possible.”
6 May 2021