Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to commence my contribution to the debate by commending the member for La Trobe on bringing this to the parliament. I also note that this is not the first time he has spoken on this issue and I know that he is totally committed to stopping this cruel practice that takes place throughout the world.

For the record, canned hunting is trophy hunting in which an animal is kept in a confined area, reducing their chance of escape by being fenced in, which really increases the likelihood that the hunter will have some success. It is changing the odds—even though the odds are already in favour of the hunter, it is changing them and making it much more likely that that hunter will be able to score a trophy that he or she can take home. The target animal is unfairly prevented from escaping the hunter, either by physical constraints or by mental constraints. They are tame. A lot of the animals involved in canned hunting have been brought up in captivity. They have been separated from their mothers at a fairly young age and are held in captivity. They gain a certain trust in humans.

I was reading of where young lions are taken away from their mothers. The common explanation is, 'That's because the mother had no milk.' In reality, that is a very, very rare occurrence in the wild. Most lionesses do have milk. They say that, if this happens, they are really protecting the species. Animal welfare experts disagree with this. They say that breeders are removing the cubs from their mothers because the lionesses become quickly fertile, so they can breed more lions. These breeders tell you that they remove the cubs, as I said, because the lionesses have no milk, but that has never been seen in the wild.

Trophy hunters are attracted to a situation where the animal is in an enclosed space and has some level of trust of human beings. I am not a person who supports hunting, but, to my way of thinking, this is quite a brutal and inhumane—

An honourable member: Cowardly.

and cowardly attack on defenceless animals. They can to a degree protect themselves, but, at the end of the day, they are in no way able to stand up to that hunter who wants a trophy for the wall back home. I look at it and think: 'What can we do?' This predominantly happens in South Africa. There have been attempts to ban it, but the High Court there overturned it. I think the only way that we can have a real impact on this canned hunting is through customs regulation, is the member for Fremantle mentioned, and banning the importation of animal parts.

The CITES—the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora—aims to ensure that the international trade in species of endangered animals and plants does not threaten their survival. It also covers a number of other points but it is a very important convention and one that we as a nation need to be 100 per cent committed to. I call on my colleagues in this House today to join the member for Latrobe to bring about an end to this very unfair, cowardly canned hunting throughout the world.

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