‘Right to hunt': Fury over ‘bounty' proposal
The upper house inquiry into the Game and Feral Animal Legislation Amendment (Conservation Hunting) Bill 2025 will begin on Friday morning and will hear from experts, including Invasive Species Council chief executive Jack Gough.
Mr Gough, who has been a strident opponent of the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers NSW Bill, is urging the state government to 'walk away from this dangerous and misleading proposal before more damage is done'.
'Handing the Shooters Party a taxpayer-funded propaganda unit and locking in the mismanagement of state forests and Crown land as game parks for a few upper house votes is shortsighted,' Mr Gough said.
'Our native wildlife, Australian landscapes and agriculture are too precious to be used as political bargaining chips.
'Let's be clear – recreational hunting is not effective feral animal control and this deal risks undermining existing programs that are effective.' An upper house inquiry into the Game and Feral Animal Legislation Amendment (Conservation Hunting) Bill 2025 will begin on Friday morning, Credit: Supplied
Mr Gough claimed effective management of feral animals, including deer, in NSW state forests had been 'stopped by the shooting lobby who have been keen to see feral deer spread across the state for the sake of their hobby'.
'Sadly, our two million hectares of state forests have been allowed to become breeding grounds for feral animals, with little to no government control taking place. The proposed Bill will lock in that mismanagement forever.
'NSW needs a boost to professional, strategic feral animal control – not a political deal dressed up as conservation.
'I look forward to giving this evidence and hope that sanity, science and sense can prevail over dodgy backroom deals.'
The Bill, introduced by Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers MLC Robert Borsak, introduces a raft of measures proponents say will recognise the role responsible hunters play in conservation and land management.
It would enshrine a 'right to hunt', opening up swathes of state forests to potential hunting activities, create a new hunting authority, as well as pave the way for the introduction of a bounty system for the killing of feral animals. Invasive Species Council Jack Gough chief executive warned the Bill could lead to a 'taxpayer-funded propaganda unit'. Credit: Supplied
Premier Chris Minns said the government was 'open to looking at' a potential bounty scheme, which is not an explicit provision of the Bill but would open up recreational hunters to killing feral animals and then collecting a bounty.
In an interview earlier this week, he denied that the Bill would in any way pave the way for the introduction of 'silencers, or night vision goggles or body armour'.
'Police oppose any changes to those provisions in the legislation, and I won't support them either,' Mr Minns said.
Former prime minister John Howard, who oversaw gun reform following the Port Arthur massacre, said he was 'totally opposed' to any weakening of gun laws.
'They have worked well, they have saved lives and they are the envy of the rest of the world,' Mr Howard told The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Minns described Mr Howard's urgent reforms as 'one of the best decisions any government has made'.
'We won't be watering down gun laws in NSW,' Mr Minns told 2GB.
'I'm also taking heed of his (Mr Howard's) warning not to have a government-funded gun lobby. That's not what we need in NSW or Australia.'
Mr Minns has also denied making any deal with the NSW Shooters.
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