Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick said it was "hypocritical" that the draft plan for Tower Hill, which includes initiatives to tap into growing "eco-tourism" markets, was also permissive of duck shooting.

"Eco tourism and duck shooting are at complete opposite ends of the scale," Mr Meddick said.

Mr Meddick is pushing for duck shooting to be banned statewide, pointing out Game Management Authority figures listed 13,000 active duck shooters last year, while Tower Hill saw about 295,000 visitors.

"There can only have been an absolute handful of duck shooters," he said.

Mr Meddick points out that the introduction to the draft plan mentions duck hunting three times, but makes fewer references to bird watching.

The plan says hunting has been part of Tower Hill since it reclassified from a national park to a state game reserve in 1961.

But the reserve has partially closed off to duck hunting since 2017 within the western half of the lake due to a significant number of threatened blue-billed ducks.

A state government spokeswoman said: "We're making sure we protect the environment while visitors get to enjoy this remarkable extinct volcano".

The master planning process did not include any scope for Tower Hill to change from being a game reserve.

But the report does note that community consultation raised "the site had a conflicting identity of 'game reserve' classification in light of the attraction of the reserve as wildlife haven".

Mr Meddick said consultation over the site's use for hunting "should have" been included in the plan's terms of reference.

"If that question was asked as part of the terms of reference then you would get a differentiate answer," he said.

"Part of the questions should have been 'do you feel the reserve should be reclassified as a national park and be banned to duck shooting?'"

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