The story so far…
The Labor Government’s proposal to ban recreational bow hunting in South Australia is fast becoming a reality. Recently, government documents have been released which confirm this proposal WILL proceed as planned – with an exact date of implementation to be announced in the coming weeks or months.
On the 10th of January 2023, I sent an email to the minister in charge of spearheading this ban (no pun intended), Susan Close MP. My goal was to obtain written confirmation of her support for indigenous hunting practices – notably her support for the use of various hunting methods that the general public may consider equal to bow hunting, or greater in terms of the potential to inflict ‘unnecessary suffering’ upon targeted animals.
Ideally, this confirmation would also be supported by creating an exemption for indigenous Australians within the confines of the newly proposed legislation.
As it turns out, the latter came true…
Why did I pursue this line of questioning?
The aim was to exploit a contradiction between her stance on ‘animal welfare’ (the basis for this ban) and the guarantee that as a politician, she would not dare to infringe upon the access and rights held by indigenous Australians.
This would create an opportunity for the bow hunting community to go on the offensive, and call out her pseudo ‘animal welfare’ concerns for what they truly are – a political point-scoring exercise. One which is designed to gather support and donations from the self-proclaimed “Animal Justice” community, “woke” like-minded politicians and representatives of influential organisations such as the RSPCA.
I firmly believe that if ‘animal welfare’ and ‘ethics’ were truly at the forefront of her mind, then a prohibition would be implemented across the board – WITH NO EXEMPTIONS GRANTED TO ANYONE.
The Deputy Minister’s response
On the 21st of February 2023, I received a response from a representative of her office. A copy of this email can be found below.
If you’re interested in the full details of my initial email, it can be found here.
Dear Mr (last name removed),
On behalf of the Deputy Premier, the Hon Susan Close MP, thank you for your email dated 10 January 2023 regarding indigenous hunting rights.
This ban via an amendment to the National Parks and Wildlife (Hunting) Regulations 2011, will not impact Aboriginal hunting within the context of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 (NPW Act), which allows Aboriginal people to hunt for food for themselves or their family, or for cultural purposes and non-commercially without the need to hold a hunting permit. It will however impact activities where a hunting permit is required, including Aboriginal persons hunting animals to sell commercially.
For Aboriginal hunting activities where no hunting permit is required, other requirements of the NPW Act may apply and must be adhered to, such as having the written permission of a landholder to hunt on private land.
The requirements of the Animal Welfare Act 1985 also apply to all people undertaking hunting in all circumstances. Section 13 describes ‘ill-treatment’ and creates offences for which penalties apply.
Additional information on the proposed ban is available on the Department for Environment and Water’s (DEW) website at https://environment.sa.gov.au/bowhunting.
For further information, the Conservation and Wildlife Unit of the National Parks and Wildlife Service within DEW can be contacted by email at [email protected].
Kind regards,
The name was removed (it wasn’t Susan Close MP…)
Office of the Deputy Premier
My reaction
While the response that I received was not quite the “gotcha” moment that I was hoping for, it’s a solid starting point in the fight against this proposed bow hunting ban. This response – in addition to the recently released government ‘fact sheet’, confirms that an exemption WILL be granted to indigenous Australians. That is despite the complete lack of historical use within their customs or traditional hunting practices.
Due to the questionable nature of this exemption, I think it presents us with a valid opportunity to approach the Deputy Minister and discuss the obvious disparity between differing cultures and racial groups.
Another topic of discussion for the Minister would be her contradictory stance on animal welfare. As previously stated, classifying archery equipment as an accepted means to hunt by indigenous Australians demonstrates her acceptance of the ability to produce an ethical kill. Otherwise, it insinuates that it’s not able to produce a humane outcome, however, it’s perfectly OK from a societal viewpoint.
Either way, you look at it, this proposed ban should be overturned.
My next move
In response to her email, I have refined and resubmitted many of the questions in my original correspondence. It was also politely stated that I did not receive a direct response to these questions during our initial discussion and that an answer was necessary to determine the future voting preferences of myself and others in my community.
Will this result in a positive outcome? It’s unlikely. But only time will tell…
How can YOU support the SA bow hunting community?
Send off your own polite and carefully constructed email to Susan Close MP, at – [email protected]. The more emails we send, the more pressure we place upon her office to respond to this line of questioning.
You can also support the following organisations that are proactively fighting against this ban.
