The Northern Victoria candidate for Australian Country Alliance said there was no reason why hunting could not co- exist with eco-tourism.

Mr Threlfall said if elected he would open up the wetlands to recreational pursuits now banned.

“The ban is in the form of an administrative direction that bans activities such as flying a kite, using a beach umbrella and picking flowers,” he said.

Mr Threlfall described these bans as absurd and family unfriendly.

“The area is also off limits to duck hunting, which the National Party has acknowledged is an important contributor to the Victorian economy.”

Mr Threlfall said a recent study revealed 65 per cent of the economic benefit of the former Lake Mokoan had been lost to the Benalla area since it was turned into wetlands.

“That comes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.

“It’s OK for the latte-sipping locals who go out there and watch birds, but duck hunters pay a licence that goes back into the upkeep of these places.

“A bird watcher pays nothing.”

But Mr Threlfall said there was no reason why the two pursuits could not co-exist on the wetlands.

“I take my kids out to the middle of a swamp before the sun rises,” he said.

“Whether or not I get a shot off and bag a duck or not this is what happens; the water rats come out, the reed warblers come out in these waters.

“And then the swallows come out, the cockatoos and then the koalas.

“I then come out of the swamp and the Greenies turn up and say ‘what happened, you scared all the ducks away’ and you didn’t even take a shot that morning.”

Mr Threlfall said his point was that duck shooting took place in thriving, ecologically diverse locations.

“The thing is with these people is they’ve piggybacked all the way along with the licences that hunters put on themselves to buy a lot of these game reserves,” he said.

Mr Threlfall said his party would like to start a process to see what could be achieved.

“It was a promise of Bill Sykes that he would fight for shooters’ rights to enter that area,” he said.

Mr Threlfall said he had got a lot of encouragement when he raised these issues at meetings in the Benalla area.

“They talk about what they’ve lost in terms of public access to the Winton Wetlands.”