Shooters and Fishers Party

Shooters and Fishers Party
Headquarters	PO Box 376, Baulkham Hills NSW 1755
Ideology	Personal freedom Gun law reform Environmentalism
NSW Legislative Council	2 / 42
Vic Legislative Council	2 / 40
WA Legislative Council	1 / 36
Website
shootersandfishers.org.au

The Shooters and Fishers Party, formerly the Shooters Party or the Australian Shooters Party, is an Australian political party that was registered with the Australian Electoral Commission on 27 August 2007.

Since 2013, the party has been a member of the Minor Party Alliance, a loose political movement that assists to organise preference meetings and negotiation of preference flows between minor political parties.

Origin

The Shooters Party was formed on 2 May 1992 when the New South Wales Government proposed laws preventing citizens from owning firearms for self-defence as part of a raft of firearms laws after a number of mass shootings. It was founded by journalist and broadcaster John Tingle, who was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in March 1995, the party's first representative, and who served until 3 May 2006 when Tingle resigned from the NSW Parliament allegedly due to illness believed to be cancer, nominating his seat to party member and businessman Robert Brown Brown was elected at the 2011 general election for an eight-year term. In 2013 Tingle resigned his position as vice chairman of the party and has relinquished his membership of the party. He remains active and in good health with his pistol club, Silo Practical and also with the running and control of the Hastings Regional Shooting Complex, Port Macquarie, NSW next to the Port Macquarie Airport.

Policies

The party's policies were entirely focused around firearms asserting that every law-abiding citizen should have the right to own and use a firearm for legitimate purposes, including self-defense, a position that remains unchanged. In broadening the appeal the party now strongly supports recreational & conservation hunting, and laws giving shooters access to public land for hunting. It also has policies relating to personal freedom, and reduction of governmental interference in citizens' lives; as well as the need for five-year reviews of all legislation. The party's current motto is "Reclaim Freedom". It actively supports recreational fishers, four-wheel drivers and other outdoor users including hunters, as well as rural activities of farming, mining & forestry. The Party opposes what it calls "extreme Green policies" and the "left leaning social reconstructive agenda" of the Greens.

The Party counts among its achievements, a number of successful Bills, including those giving rights of self-defence to any citizen, anywhere, with immunity from civil or criminal liability; providing extra penalties for attacks on vulnerable people; giving families of homicide victims the right to be heard in court; establishment of the Game Council New South Wales now disbanded, and legislation allowing specifically licensed hunters to hunt on public land; government funding controlled by the party for shooting clubs, and the establishment and control of regional shooting complexes; recognition of membership of a hunting club as "genuine reason" for obtaining a firearms licence; extension of minor permits from ages 18 to 12, etc. The Shooters Party also politically assists some firearms organizations and peak bodies, but not all.

Results

In federal politics

Before the 2004 federal election, the Australian Shooters Party was deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission for failing to contest a federal election for four years. It was re-registered after the 2004 federal election but was deregistered again on 27 December 2006, along with a number of minor parties which did not have a representative sitting in Federal Parliament. Re-registration was achieved in August 2007. The Australian Shooters Party contested the 2007 federal election and received 0.28% of the national vote and 1.1% of the vote in NSW. The Party was instrumental in flowing preferences away from the Greens in NSW, Queensland and Victoria.

Glenn Druery who was behind the 2013 federal election preference deal successes with candidate elections on 0.2 and 0.5 percent is on the payroll of the Shooters and Fishers Party and assists in organising preference meetings and negotiating preference flows between parties. The party has been involved in Druery's Minor Party Alliance.

In New South Wales

At the 2007 New South Wales state election, the Shooters Party received 2.8% of the primary vote for the Legislative Council (↑0.8%) and lead candidate Roy Smith was elected to the Legislative Council. On 30 July 2010, Smith died in his sleep and Robert Borsak was nominated by the party to fill the casual vacancy. As a result, the party holds 2 seats in the NSW Upper House. In 2009 an agreement was reached to allow hunters onto public lands in a deal with the government.

At the 2011 New South Wales state election, the Liberal/National Coalition took government but with three seats short of a majority in the upper house. The Shooters and Fishers Party hold two seats along with the Christian Democratic Party, with the balance of power shifting from the Greens to the two parties. The Shooters and Fishers Party have reportedly created a rolling list of demands in exchange for legislative support of the now Liberal/National government, however the government believes it has "ruled out" any deals with the Shooters.

In May 2012 the party negotiated a deal with the O'Farrell government giving recreational shooters access to national parks to cull feral animals including pigs, rabbits and deer by allowing the passage of laws through the NSW Upper House to sell the state-owned power generating assets of Eraring Energy, Delta Electricity and Macquarie Generation, that were claimed to yield up to A$3 billion. Deals continue to have fallout.

In South Australia

The 2006 South Australian state election saw the Shooters Party run two candidates for the Legislative Council, Robert Low and Michael Hudson, preferencing the Family First Party as well as the One Nation Party. The Shooters Party received 0.6% of the vote, with a 0.08 quota. Neither candidate was elected.

In Western Australia

At the 2013 Western Australian state election, Shooters and Fishers candidate Rick Mazza was elected to the Legislative Council representing the Agricultural Region with 3.09% of the vote in that region.

In Victoria

At the 2014 Victorian state election, two Shooters and Fishers candidates were elected to the Legislative Council. Jeffrey Bourman from the Eastern Victoria Region was elected with 2.44% of the Region's vote, and Daniel Young from the Northern Victoria Region was elected with 3.5% of his Region's vote.

Political representatives

Current politicians

• Robert Borsak (New South Wales Legislative Council, 2010–present)
• Jeffrey Bourman (Victorian Legislative Council, 2014–present)
• Robert Brown (New South Wales Legislative Council, 2006–present)
• Rick Mazza (Western Australian Legislative Council, 2013–present)
• Daniel Young (Victorian Legislative Council, 2014–present)

Past politicians

• Roy Smith (New South Wales Legislative Council, 2007–2010)
• John Tingle (New South Wales Legislative Council, 1995–2006)

See also

• List of political parties in Australia
• Gun politics in Australia

Further reading

• Swain, Marie.(1996) Gun control : historical perspective and contemporary overview Sydney, NSW Parliamentary Library Research Service, 1996. ISBN 0-7310-5951-4. Series: Briefing paper (New South Wales. Parliamentary Library Research Service) ; no. 11/96

External links

• Current official site
• Former site