The Shooter's Party is not playing well on the NSW North Coast where the natural environment and diverse flora and fauna are still our biggest tourism draw cards and, where residents appreciate their contact with wildlife.
I haven't yet spoken to anyone who favours allowing gun-toting hunters into national parks or the creation of private game reserves stocked with exotic or feral animals.
This 25 August 2009 The Daily Examiner letter to the editor expresses a common view:
Political shenanigans
THE media has had a field day of late reporting on the political shenanigans that the State Labor Government has been resorting to in order to get its legislation through the State's Upper House.
It is their cosy relationship with the Shooters Party and Fred Nile that has culminated in the controversial bill being proposed that will allow sporting shooters to hunt and kill feral animals and a range of native fauna on public land, including national parks, under the guise of conservation hunting.
That political bond saw the creation of the NSW Game Council whose current chairman, Robert Borsak, has political ambitions of his own, and apparently dreams of joining the former council chairman as an Upper House Shooters Party representative.
Last Friday, the ABC's Stateline program reported the scandal and alerted the nation to a website which contains Mr Borsak's account of an elephant hunt he undertook in Zimbabwe.
His gleeful description of the poor animal's screams and subsequent death throes (he had only managed to break its spine with his first shot, so inept are his shooting skills), is sickening indeed.
However, I urge any doubters as to the real motivation behind the Shooters Party move to log on and read that story so as to fully comprehend the implications of allowing the Shooters Bill to progress.
I believe that the majority of those that read and understand the blood lust that is clearly conveyed in the article, would not only refuse to countenance recreational hunting in national parks, but would support moves to put a stop to this barbaric sport altogether.
JOHN EDWARDS,
South Grafton.
3 comments:
This guy is using hundreds of thousands of dollars of NSW taxpayers money to get his face in ads around the State. That will help him get elected. totally corrupt.
The Shooters Party is a real worry, and it is even more worrying that they have managed to place two men in the Legislative Council.
Of course nobody is bothering to ask what precipitated the deadlock in Parliament: why The Shooters stopped supporting Labor.
The Attorney General John Hatzistergos lobbied hard with the minor parties to push through the NSW Trustee and Guardian Bill. It was the last piece of legislation to pass in June. Hatzistergos brokered a deal with The Greens. Basically, The Greens were opposed to the merger of the Public Trustee and Protective Commissioner (which is what happened by the NSW Trustee and Guardian Bill). But when Hatzistergos discussed the Bill with The Greens, they in turn said "something for us, something for you". In exchange for The Greens vote, Labor had to withdraw its support for The Shooters Bill on National parks. No mainstream journalist has yet had the temerity to put the spotlight on Hatzistergos' actions -- his lobbying brought about the dummy spit from The Shooters. It has led to the deadlock in the Upper House.
NSW is being held to ransom by the antics of The Shooters Party. They want to repeal so much of the gun-restrictions that came after the Port Arthur massacre.
The NSW Upper House is in stalemate because Labor walked away from The Shooters Party in late June. Labor tried to push through business using The Greens' support. The Greens jumped at the chance to stick it to The Shooters. Labor got what it wanted from The Greens and The Greens pipped The Shooters.
Now we stuck with the prissy posturing from Labor and The Shooters. We need a state election immediately so we can boot out Labor and boot the Shooters out too!
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