Labor-Shooters Coalition set to hijack environment in deal with the devil
The Minns Labor Government is repeating mistakes made 22 years ago by giving into demands from the gun lobby. The NSW Parliament is set to vote on the establishment of a new Hunting Authority that will exclude any members from conservation organisations and will provide recreational shooters a “right to hunt” on protected areas with silencers and night vision equipment.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “Premier Chris Minns has sent shock waves through the Parliament as he seems hell bent on driving his party back through a period of dark corrupted history, repeating the dreadful mistakes made by Labor in 2003. The establishment of the Game Council by Premier Bob Carr was an unmitigated disaster that led to members of the public fearing being shot in the forest, worse land management outcomes, worse environmental outcomes, and straight up corruption by the Labor Party and gun lobby,”
“This new government-funded propaganda arm of the gun lobby in NSW is being pushed through the Parliament this week, all because the Premier is trying to buy votes in the Legislative Council. Chris Minns is pushing hugely controversial reforms, including smashing workers compensation programs, and he is using this gift to the shooters to buy that support,”
“The bill before the Parliament is a giant lie. It is being justified by the Premier under the false premise that ‘conservation hunting’ will reduce invasive species for the benefit of the environment. The Premier knows this is untrue and is contrary to expert advice,”
“This new Game Council 2.0 law has been drafted so that the new Hunting Authority can only promote the benefits of hunting, in what can only be described as science denialism. It will have an absolute majority of gun advocates in voting positions and has significant power to recommend Government policy,”
“The proposed law before us seeks to enshrine a “right to hunt” and allow hunters to shoot in the darkness of night, in the forests of NSW, with night vision equipment and silencers. It’s literally a horror movie nightmare unfolding before us, I just don’t understand how a Government can do this to the people of NSW at this time. The proposed law makes provision for the establishment of a Minister for Hunting and Fishing, I mean seriously as if we need that here in NSW right now, it is like the Minns Labor Government got punch drunk at the deal with the shooters and they're laughing at all of us”
“This high risk rushed law making is irresponsible and is an underhanded attack on decades of careful gun safety reform that we should be proud of and not throwing away like gambling chips. I will be moving significant amendments to correct this genuinely terrible attempt to turn NSW into a state of shooters and looters across our public land estate,”
“It’s a disgraceful move by the Government and I don’t think this is the end of the deal. Last week the Government ushered a Shooters motion through the Parliament to establish a Select Committee into access restriction over all public lands and waterways in NSW and at this stage it seems the Greens will be locked out of that inquiry deal,”
“When this Minns Labor Government was elected, they promised NSW integrity, transparency and accountability. So quickly they have fallen into the Labor Party antics of the past and are now threatening to deliver the same 20 year old dirty deals that failed to achieve any good outcomes for NSW and instead just made NSW a more corrupt place,” Ms Higginson said.