So Watts not?

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The South Australian Government has expanded the zones in which Kangaroos can be shot for commercial gain (now covering most of the state), added new species to the commercial list and allowed shooting in conservation areas including National Parks, while creating and increasing bounties and incentives to kill more and more animals. While the state’s never completed Inquiry into Kangaroo and Wallaby populations in South Australia was underway, adding their killing plans to individual conservation area planning documents and nature laws.  

Despite all these efforts to expand the opportunities to kill more Kangaroos, actual take against quota continues to decline. All these failures in intent describe a thirty year long decline in Kangaroo populations in the state. Yet the myths continue, as do the claims about popualtion inceases when it is obvious they are biologically impossible. If they took the trouble to compare what is possible for shooters now when compared to just 10 years ago and if the numerous changes had not occurred, the actual take against quota would be just 10 per cent or less.

How do they keep getting away with it is the question for Australia’s Environment Minister, Murray Watt?

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2024: Kangaroos killed for commercial gain

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Latest actual for 2024 (Meat Processor data) is 106,503, 17 per cent  of that year’s quota of 635,400. Previously we had reported 105,845 from shooters returns. There was no Special Land Management Quota issued for 2024.

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2025: Kangaroos killed for commercial gain and bounty incentives

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Latest actual for 2025 (January to end November 2025), which includes the impact of the commercial component of the various bounties introduced in the year, is 109,139, that is 13.5 per cent of the 2025 commercial quota of 805,800.  This number does not include the Special Land Management Quota. The full year South Australian Government projection (DEW) is 119,892, 15 per cent of the full year quota.

Our latest thinking on the impact of the various and generous incentives to kill yet more Kangaroos in South Australia, given results in previous years and Nature Knowledge Channel estimates, is that the incentives of AUD 900,000 (not all expended) have resulted in the deaths of an additional 10,000 Kangaroos (likely including joeys), many of which ended up in a pet food can. So certainly not the 50,000 to 100,000 additional animals claimed by the Hon. Claire Scriven MLC when the bounties were introduced.

A letter (July 2025) to Peter Hylands from South Australia’s Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development / Minister for Forest Industries, contains the following paragraph.

“The program aims to reduce the impact of Kangaroos on farmers’ pastures and crops, as well as mitigating the poor animal welfare outcomes due to lack of food and water available for Kangaroos. Consecutive good seasons has meant Kangaroo numbers have boomed, and the current drought has left them with little to eat. Kangaroo populations are surveyed each year, and the science to estimate Kangaroo population numbers has been extensively peer-reviewed. Currently, it is estimated there are 5 million to 6 million Kangaroos in South Australia, with only approximately 100,000 harvested per year. The additional measures are estimated to remove between 50,000 to 100,000 additional Kangaroos”. Hon Claire Scriven MLC

And hardly the booming populations claimed by reporters on the ABC. I quote ABC journalist Luke Radford:

“The desperation for food is so great, their numbers so large, that Kangaroos are even destroying the native landscape in which they evolved in”.

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Scale of and demand for of killing effort and incentives in late 2025

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Field Harvester Support Grant

The intention of this program was to increase capacity and skills and therefore no harvesting details are recorded/monitored. Expenditure in the period totalled AUD 79,989. Payments were made between 1 October 2025 and 12 January 2026

Fifteen applicants applied for the Field Harvester Support Grant between 1 October 2025 and 12 January 2026 of which thirteen applications were successful in obtaining funding, one applicant withdrew their application and one application was in the assessment stage of the process.

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Primary Producer Incentives Grant

Six applicants applied for the Primary Producer Incentives Grant and all applicants were successful in obtaining funding. Total expended AUD 5,000, remaining allocation was AUD 345,000, expenditures resulting in the killing of 1,000 Kangaroo (we assume including joeys).

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Field Harvester Incentives Grant

The expenditure refers to payments made between 1 October 2025 and 30 November 2025, including the daily incentive for specific regions and the incentive per Kangaroo. The information for December 2025 was not available at time of writing. A total of AUD 92,503 was expended in the period (includes AUD 798 for the December bounty). Bounty payments for October / November / December  for the 225 Kangaroos killed but not for commercial gain totalled AUD 2,103. Monies paid for October / November  from the Field Harvester Incentives Grant (subsidy) for 14,828 Kangaroos that were killed for commercial gain totalled AUD 90,400. The latter, likely a subsidy for animals (the majority of) that would have been killed for commercial gain had there been no subsidy in place.

There were thirtyseven applicants for the Field Harvester Incentives Grant in the period and all applicants were successful in obtaining funding. The expenditure does not include daily incentive funds for operating in less popular/less serviced area.

The number of Kangaroos ‘destroyed’ in December 2025 was provided and was 114, the number of Kangaroos killed for commercial gain in December 2025 was not available at the time of writing.

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