Minns drops ‘right to hunt’ clause, but Labor’s gun lobby bill must be stopped
Premier Chris Minns has dropped his plan to enshrine a so-called right to hunt in NSW law, but the rest of his deal with the Shooters Party remains intact and must be stopped.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “The Premier’s decision to abandon the ‘right to hunt’ clause is a win for the community and for effective control of invasive species, but this bill is still a vehicle for the gun lobby. It will spend $7.9 million of public money over the next two years to create a new Conservation Hunting Authority that is actively required to deny science and evidence,”
“This new Authority will replace the Game and Pest Management Advisory Board, a body that already represents the interests of licensed hunters and provides advice on pest management. The standalone, government-funded promotional platform for gun lobby that’s proposed in this law will exclude conservation experts, stack decision-making roles with gun advocates, and be required to promote hunting no matter the evidence,”
“The Greens support effective and coordinated invasive species control across all land tenures, based on science, evidence and expert advice. This bill does not deliver that and instead creates a new agency whose job is to legitimise recreational shooting and elevate it into a public policy objective, regardless of the environmental or safety outcomes,”
“Premier Chris Minns wants the people of NSW to believe that this is about conservation and it’s just not - this is about politics. The Premier is pushing this bill as part of a deal to secure support from the Shooters in shoring up support for his minority Government. He is trading away good policy and public safety for short-term political gain and is completely ignoring that there is a progressive majority in the Parliament,”
“The Game Council was a failure and was shut down for a reason. We shouldn’t be repeating that mistake. This bill is a direct step back to the dark days of gun lobby influence over public land management and must be rejected in full. If Chris Minns’ Government lets this past, they will have spent $8 million in public money and not a cent of that will go to actually removing invasives species from the landscape,”
“The Greens will continue to fight this legislation. The Premier has taken one step back but the remaining provisions are still dangerous, still unnecessary, and still a gift to the gun lobby that the people of NSW can’t afford,” Ms Higginson said.