The ongoing dispute between the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) National HQ and the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia Queensland branch has taken a dramatic turn, with the national body suspending the Queensland organisation amidst an ongoing dispute over membership fees and services.
SSAA Inc (SSAA National) claims that SSAA Queensland owes them at least $970,000 in unpaid membership fees for the period from January to June 2025 — fees SSAA Queensland has refused to pay, claiming they are not receiving the benefits of them.
About half of the annual fee for individual SSAA members goes to SSAA National to cover matters such as insurance, publication of Australian Shooter magazine, administration and so forth.
Recently, SSAA Queensland established its own membership systems, mutual fund insurance, public liability insurance and magazine. As a result, it has argued it should no longer need to fund the SSAA National-provided versions of these things as a result.
SSAA National disagrees with this stance.
In a letter sent to SSAA members and posted on the National organisation’s wesbite, SSAA national president Andrew Judd said the SSAA Queensland had, “through the actions of the SSAA Queensland executive,” been suspended from its membership of SSAA Inc, effective from 1 October 2025, and that as of 31 December, individual SSAA Queensland members could no longer compete in SSAA national events.
“SSAA Queensland was suspended on 1 October, 2025 but individual members will still be able to compete in national events until 31 December 2025 as some members had paid subs in advance till then,” Mr Judd said.
“As SSAA National hasn’t access to the SSAA Queensland member list, we have honoured members competition rights until then.”
An FAQ sent to members alongside Mr Judd’s letter stated SSAA Queensland has refused to pay any membership fees since December 2024 and “like any association or club, if you want to be a member, you are required to pay the set membership fee”.
“This has been a very difficult decision and one that the board of SSAA Inc has delayed for a long time as it sought to protect SSAA Queensland members and come to an arrangement with SSAA Queensland so that it could remain a full and participating member of the national association,” it said.
“The recent decision by SSAA Queensland to stop their members receiving Australian Shooter forced the hand of the board and brought the matter to a head.
“Because the board of SSAA Inc still wants SSAA Queensland to return as a full and participating member, it has decided to suspend SSAA Queensland rather than expel them.”
SSAA National has also established its own affiliated Queensland branch, SSAA Queensland Hunting and Shooting (SSAA QHS) for Queensland-based members wishing to maintain their association with the national body.
However, it is unclear at this stage if SSAA QHS has access to any ranges.
SSAA Queensland has hit back angrily at the suspension announcement, with SSAA Queensland president Jeff Ross saying “the email [from SSAA National] contains many false statements and its aim appears to be an attempt to hijack membership funds from Queenslanders”.
“We will seek legal advice and respond to SSAA National to make it clear that we will not sit idly by when outside parties attempt to defame and interfere with the functions of our independent organisation,” he said.
“SSAA Queensland is the largest, financially sound and self-reliant shooting and hunting organisation in Australia with more than 75 branches statewide.
“We are not under the control of SSAA National and they have no right to misadvise our 80,000 members.”
Mr Ross goes on to accuse SSAA National of misusing finances, reducing membership benefits and not providing the level of service expected for Queensland members.
“We have ceased paying them for services that we now provide our own members, as they were simply not up to the task,” he said.
“Instead of restructuring their budget to match their reduced income and reduced responsibilities, they appear to be panicking and now attempting to hijack Queensland shooters’ membership fees without offering ranges or state benefits. Their actions display a disregard for Queensland and will go down in history as malicious and self-destructive.”
Mr Ross said nothing had changed in a practical sense for SSAA Queensland members, with membership of the organisation continuing to be a genuine reason for having a firearms licence in Queensland; he said the organisation was continuing to provide ranges for shooting, along with matches to compete in.
“We lobby for your sport and recreation at the state and federal level and provide $20 million in public liability. We have established the Australian Shooters Alliance and the Australian Institute of Legislative Action which provides us with the ability to reach federal legislators and work with other likeminded organisations like the USA’s National Rifle Association,” he said.
Sporting Shooter reported on an earlier stage of the dispute back in July, when SSAA Queensland stopped providing copies of the magazine Australian Shooter to members, instead sending out its own publication, The Report,and it was revealed the Queensland body had stopped paying membership fees to SSAA National.
SSAA nationally has a federalised structure, with the various state and territory branches being separate legal entities that are members of the SSAA National organisation, while individuals are members of their state or territory branch.
This is similar to how motoring organisations such as the NRMA, RACQ, RACV etc are members of the Australian Automobile Association (AAA), but individuals are members of their state-based body rather than the AAA itself.
SSAA Queensland had, at the time of its suspension, by far the largest number of members of any SSAA branch — more than 80,000, a significant portion of the approximately 220,000 SSAA members across Australia.
Note that Sporting Shooter magazine is published by Yaffa Media and is not associated with SSAA, despite the similarity in names.
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