Duck hunters ‘dodge bullet’

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Duck hunters ‘dodge bullet’

Duck hunting will be permitted at Lake George for years to come according to Environment Minister and Deputy Premier Dr Susan Close.


She gave the assurance in the House of Assembly on Thursday afternoon following a query from Member for MacKillop Nick McBride.


There had been speculation that areas around Lake George and other coastal lakes may have been converted to National Parks thus denying access to duck hunters.


Then Environment Minister David Speirs had initiated a review of the coastal lakes management under the previous Liberal Government.


The potential for restrictions prompted the Conservation and Hunting Alliance to organise a public meeting in 2023 which packed out the Millicent War Memorial Civic and Arts Centre.


However, Dr Close has now said no further action would be taken.


“The First Nations of the South East have indicated they are interested in settling native title there,” Dr Close said.


“There has not been any native title extinguished over the Crown land in the area and there is no point, in my view, in persisting in a project … until that has been resolved.


“There are a lot of people who love those lakes and are interested in various activities associated with those lakes.


“I visited Lake George recently with the member and I caught up with some people who made me promise to go back and do some fishing with them on Lake George.


“What we have decided to do is establish a community working group to enable stakeholders to continue to participate in talking about management decisions and so on with those lakes.


“We are expecting to draw that together towards the end of the year from recollection and starting to have meetings from next year.


“Recognising how long native title processes can take, I do not imagine that we are going to hear any more about any of those other suggestions that were made, which included changing the status of protection and restricting some activities.


“We will not hear about any more of that for some time to come – years.”

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