Robert Borsak’s new hunting bill could be the biggest victory for hunters since public-land hunting was introduced two decades ago, and it is remarkable in that it seems to have the support of the Labor Government.
There’s a lot of potential in the Game and Feral Animal Control Amendment (Conservation Hunting) Bill 2025 including as much as 50,000 hectares of additional hunting land for us, recognition of our role in conservation, maybe the use of suppressors on private land — all sorts of things.
Of course, the devil is in the details, which we won’t see until at least tomorrow, but if this bill goes through parliament as quickly as it might, it could be enabled on 1 July and be giving us new hunting opportunities by early next year.
If I sound optimistic, it’s because I am, but I know we have a long way to go yet and anything can happen before it’s a done deal. However, I know the SFF is pretty sure of itself with this one.
They must have been working very hard to get government support for this.
The new model appears to take some of the workable and sensible parts of what was done when public land was first opened to hunters under the imperfect Game Council, mix it with the political and regulatory realities of today, and then find a legitimate place for hunting in the big picture of conservation and pest management in NSW.
I applaud the efforts to protect our right to hunt, to create a legislated place for hunting in the system.
These days, we need to protect recreational and volunteer hunters from the self-interest of the culling industry, which has generally been highly antagonistic towards us; so too the people who claim we’ve evolved beyond hunting so it should be outlawed.
With luck, the success of this bill will establish the common sense that Mr Borsak refers to in his notes about the bill:
- the common sense to allow us to voluntarily control pests in places we currently can’t, simply because we’re not licensed professionals — although I don’t expect it’ll be anything like open season on the local golf course’s rabbits
- the common sense to permit us to play a greater role in culling on public and private lands, as part of larger coordinated efforts
- the common sense to allow us to use suppressors on our rifles, something that the police will resist bitterly (read why here).
And in this day of official recognition of the importance of cultural practices, I applaud the move to ensure hunting is recognised because, after all, hunting is one humanity’s oldest cultural traditions.
This bill could be the breakthrough we’ve been hoping for since the Shooters Party secured public land hunting two decades ago.
For most of the time since, it feels like we’ve been fighting a defensive battle just to maintain what we won.
If and when this bill goes through, it will be a major win for hunting.
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