After months of campaigning alongside Birds SA, Conservation Council SA, South Aussies for Animals and other passionate advocates, the Malinauskas Government has confirmed it will permit another recreational duck and quail shooting season in 2026.
This decision prioritises the wishes of just 711 permit-holding hunters over the voices of 22,507 South Australians who signed a petition calling for this cruelty to end.
We know exactly what a shooting season brings. It means native ducks and quail left with shattered wings, broken legs, torn bills and embedded pellets. It means animals dying slowly in pain, unable to fly, unable to feed and unable to escape predators.
It means prolonged suffering in wetlands across our state.
These are not rare or accidental outcomes. They are an inevitable part of recreational bird shooting.
And now, despite overwhelming public opposition, thousands more native birds will be subjected to this suffering.
While it is unlikely this decision will change for the 2026 season, an election is approaching. That means public pressure matters.
We are calling on the Labor Government to make a pre-election commitment to ban recreational duck and quail shooting if re-elected.
This will not happen unless South Australians make it clear that this issue influences how we vote.
We are asking every person who cares about animals to contact Premier Peter Malinauskas and Minister Lucy Hood today. Remember that using your own words is the most powerful. You can help by writing to them with the following:
- Ask them for a Pre-election promise to legislate a ban on recreational duck and quail shooting.
- Tell them that their stance on this issue will affect your vote.
- Ask them to reply and advise you whether they will support a ban on recreational duck and quail shooting.
You can also ask:
- Why they allow 711 South Australians to continue hunting native birds when most South Australians want it banned.
- What more the community has to do to get a ban, when polls, petitions and letters to government already show strong community demand to end it?
- Why they are not delivering on their policy to make changes that reflect community expectations to protect animals.
- Why does our state lag behind QLD, NSW, the ACT and WA? They stopped this cruelty decades ago.
You can direct your communications to them via email or tag them on social media.
Premier Peter Malinauskas: [email protected] | Peter Malinauskas
