In an act of blinding dishonesty and political bullying, the Commonwealth Department of Finance and Deregulation, under Penny Wong, has issued an eviction notice to The NSW Rifle Association effective 31st January 2012.
In their lease agreement (which I have sighted), signed in good faith some years ago by both parties, there are two clauses which state that the NSW Rifle Association member clubs and Association Headquarters would be seamlessly relocated to suitable range facilities within the Sydney basin when ANZAC Rifle Range, Malabar was closed to shooting.
Secure in that knowledge, and reassured in very recent meetings with the Special Minister of State, Gary Gray and his staff, the Rifle Association entered into strategy and planning meetings with the Commonwealth to identify suitable relocation sites.
Now the Commonwealth has stated that they interpret the Relocation clauses “are of no effect”. Read the attached pdf file which explains further. It seems that the Commonwealth has found a problem too difficult to deal with and they have sacrificed shooters who negotiated in good faith on the altar of their lack of competence and integrity. In the inevitable legal injunction that will ensue, the Commonwealth must lose and they will probably attempt to weasel out of their undertaking with an inadequate cash settlement. In that eventuality, NSW Rifle Association must insist that they abide by the conditions of the original contract. You can’t shoot dollar notes – you must have an appropriate range.
Now, if you cannot trust a contract made with your own national government to be ironclad, this sets an incredibly uncertain precedent for any person, business, State Government or other agency who wish to deal in good faith with the Commonwealth. It appears that any legal advice the Commonwealth has received informing this action came from the same lawyers who advised them on the “Malaysian solution”.Â
God save us from this mob.
Marcus O’Dean
Editor
NSW Rifle Association Termination Notice
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