THE State Parliament has become increasingly incestuous lately with the cosy relationship with Labor, Fred Nile of the Christian Democrats and the Shooters Party passing each other’s legislation, no matter what the merits and the effect it will have on you.
It all began way back when Labor allowed the Shooters into State Forests to shoot feral animals.
That legislation lay there until Minister Ian MacDonald started to declare some forests open to shooters. One of the most notable was his opening up of Belanglo forest to shooting.
Most of the community would have preferred the Belanglo forest be dedicated as a memory to the beautiful young people who perished there as a result of a serial killer equipped to kill.
If John Howard did anything right I would commend his attempts to restrict the sale of semiautomatic guns after the Port Arthur massacre.
But to accommodate their friends in the Upper House, Labor last year passed the Firearms Amendment Bill which allowed, amongst a host of changes, the re-arming of thousands of people in contradiction of the firearms amnesty.
Why would they pass such legislation?
Because Labor could then rely on the Shooters to pass their evil Planning reforms, despite the Coalition’s attempt to send the Bill to a committee to evaluate
just exactly what the hurried legislation meant to us.
You will find out just how horrible Part 3A is becoming soon when the Regional Planning panels are stacked up to pass anything touristy over $5 million along the coast.
Last week Labor cashed in again when Lee Rhiannon’s Bill
to save prime agricultural land from the coal miners was voted down by the Shooters and one other vote - that of the Reverend Fred Nile, who was described by his former Christian Democrat member, the Reverend Gordon
Moyes, along with the Shooters Party as one of “Labor’s junkyard dogs”.
You might wonder why the Shooters, who have a farming
base, sold out the farmers. You might until you see the Shooters Bill allowing Game Council approved shooters to shoot native animals in National Parks.
Yes, I know you just read that again to check.
“Native animals” including black swans, ducks, teals, corellas, three types of kangaroos and anything the Game Council can get on the list, inside our National Parks.
Catherine Cusack, the Liberals and Opposition spokesperson on the environment, came out quickly, saying: “We totally reject the idea of shooting in national
parks and the concept of shooting native animals in national parks is repugnant to almost anyone.”
Local MP Andrew Stoner confirms the Coalition is totally
against the Bill in its present form.
Carmel Tebbutt’s office says the Minister for Environment and Climate Change will not support
the shooting of native animals in National Parks.
This you would expect from the Environment Minister, but she has not cut out supporting the Bill which would make the provision for any future minister of
whatever bent to open any national park to game hunting.
The Minister’s reputation for integrity is on the line here.
The definition of game hunting is unclear and there is provision in the Bill for almost anything to be included.
For instance, farmers have long sought, and obtained without too much trouble, licence to kill protected animals when they threaten their livelihood.
Not just kangaroos but also corellas, cockatoos, bats, wombats and dingoes. Farmers are always blaming national parks for harbouring all sorts of threats such as wild dogs, so perhaps we could see shooters hunting in
Limeburners Nature Reserve.
Limeburners contains possibly the most viable pack of 100 per cent gene test dingoes on the coast, probably in the whole of NSW. How a shooter will do a gene test on a dog running away from him is a mystery.
Out west we might even see Game Council-appointed shooters experiencing the thrill of taking down a charging wombat.
In the past we have seen animal activists like the PETA organisation trying to save black swans shot by duck shooters with highly effective shotguns but highly defective eyesight.
Minister Ian Macdonald set out an answer for that democratic protesting problem in his new legislation to remove any environmental study requirements for the Repco Rally from Tweed to Kyogle over National Park and
State Forest dirt roads and the provision to prosecute any protestors.
His friends in the Shooters Party took note of that and have included making it an offence for anyone to even approach a shooter to talk with him while he is hunting.
Forget about animal rights, forget about democracy. Macdonald is taking us into a brave new totalitarian world.
Labor is on a hiding to nothing on this one. The environmental movement is in an uproar over this and the general public will not stand for it.
But Labor needs the Shooters and the Reverend Fred to get the rest of their evil program up, so they will probably try to float a compromise of the shooting of
ferals only as a conservation tool, which will help the National Parks and Wildlife Service protect their native fauna.
Sounds all right to the general public perhaps, but let us take a look at this propaganda.
In the published work, “A critique by ISC policy officer Dr
Carol Booth of ‘Recreational hunting and its place within
Australia’, an issue of the Australian Shooters Journal,” the Invasive Species Council says: “Of all conservation NGOs, the Invasive Species Council has the strongest potential reasons to support recreational hunting on
public lands, for it campaigns for more effective control of feral animals.
But the council opposes recent moves to open up State Forests and National Parks to recreational hunters because evidence shows that recreational hunting usually does not provide effective feral animal control and creates a serious risk of worsening feral animal problems …
Conclusion: Feral animal control is being used as a justification by some State governments to open up public lands to recreational hunters.
NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald, for example, told Parliament that “after habitat loss, invasive
species are the single greatest threat to Australia’s unique and treasured biodiversity,” and that recreational hunting was a “sensible option” to “help to eradicate
feral animals”.
The Invasive Species Council agrees that feral animal control is very important, but concludes there is no evidence to support the claims that recreational hunting is an effective or low cost option.
‘Outsourcing’ control of feral animals to ineffective recreational hunters will see populations increase, particularly if governments use it as an excuse to not fund professional control efforts.
There is also the very serious risk that governments are unwittingly creating incentives for maverick hunters to move feral animals into new areas and worsen feral animal problems.”
Wherever hunters have access to forests to shoot ferals the ferals do not disappear. Obviously the hunters have a vested interest in their survival. In fact they have a
voluntary code of not shooting deer, male or female, in each deer species breeding season.
There is an answer to the need to remove feral animals from the reserve system and that is through proper resourcing of NPWS and encouraging the work of people like Bernard Whitehead, who is already trapping humanely all sorts of ferals in the Maria-Limeburners area.
The most valuable contribution though would be in keeping the shooters and the Game Council out.
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