I always take overseas visitors to Arakoon so they can marvel at these semi-domesticated kangaroos at close quarters, and of course take lots of photos.

The joy on the faces of my friends seeing the little joeys poke their heads out of pouches makes the day so worthwhile.

They sometimes comment that until they came to the Macleay they never imagined you could get so close to such an animal outside of a zoo.

It seems though that the roos need a fence to keep the humans out.

The last time this atrocity occurred the cruel hunters not only used arrows but also ran into the kangaroos with cars, and I was told by NPWS that two animals were dragged to the shelter areas where their throats were slit.

There must be someone out there who has heard these people boasting of the pain they inflicted on these animals.

In cases like this, I believe the Aussie tradition of never dobbing on a mate should be out the window and the police informed.

Interestingly, these atrocities have occurred in or around school holidays, which brings me to an absurd move by the NSW government.

The Coalition, which depends on the Shooters and Fishers and Christian votes in the Legislative Council (known as the Guns and Moses group), has moved to introduce new regulations to allow children aged 12 to 18 to hunt on their own in state forests with dogs and a knife.

The mental image of dogs holding down a terrified animal while a child prepares to slit its throat is appalling.

This blood sport reminds me of Oscar Wilde’s observation: “The unspeakable chasing after the inedible.”

In an ABC interview it became clear the Greens David Shoebridge believes changing the regulations could make the areas more dangerous for everybody.

“I think most people would be very disturbed that you could have children as young as 12 with quite dangerous animals and dangerous weapons in our state forests,” he said.

But the CEO of the Game Council of NSW, Brian Boyle, disagrees and believes the changes would allow children to lead more active lifestyles.

“I think most people would far sooner see kids out hunting and getting into the natural environment with their parents or family than sitting in front of the computer playing computer games,” he said. (ABC Central West, May 4).

Really? Would you like to see your girl or boy dump the school bag and head off into the bush with hunting dogs to kill something?

“All right but be careful not to get blood on your jeans this time, darling.”

One of the arrows used this time at Arakoon was tipped with a hunting blade designed to cause traumatic injury and massive blood loss.

This is the blade permitted for use in our public state forests by Game Council accredited hunters, which leads me to the NSW Coalition setting up an inquiry into the use of public land including State forests and national parks, regarding the possibility of logging and shooting.

In particular, they will be looking at newly created national parks such as the iconic river red gum parks on the Murray River, but environmentalists believe the shooters, who have long wanted to get into national parks to shoot feral animals, will want access to all parks including those in our area.

Dailan Pugh of the North East Forest Alliance says the decision of the NSW Legislative Council to inquire into the past conversion of crown lands and State forests in northern NSW into national parks appears to have the intent of paving the way for the opening of national parks for logging and shooting under the guise of “sustainable use”.

“The fact the inquiry is chaired by the Shooters and Fishers Party and dominated by the Coalition leaves little doubt that the outcome has been pre-determined,” he said.

“There is currently a timber supply crisis in northern NSW. In 2004 the Labor government gave 20 year guarantees of large sawlogs from State forests to millers at levels that simply did not exist.

“It is now becoming apparent why the Coalition government has not heeded our call to reduce timber commitments.

“They appear to have a different solution.”

The end result though will be decided by local members.

I just hope a fair percentage of the Macleay people care enough for the so-called green tape which protects our national parks, such as Arakoon, Hat Head, and Limeburners.

Perhaps they will feel concerned enough to ask the Deputy Premier and Leader of the Nationals, Andrew Stoner MP, how he will vote on logging and shooting in our national parks.

I am sure Mr Stoner will be happy to hear from you at off ice@deputypremier.nsw.gov.au or phone 9228 5209.