If hunters and shooters in Western Australia were in any doubt about which of the political parties in that state were on their side and which were dead against them, they should read this press report from the WA Labor Party. The release from the office of WA Labor leader Mark McGowan, but which actually features a photo and quotes from a fellow named Chris Tallentire (apparently the Shadow Minister for the Environment) speaks strongly against the recent recommendation that there be a two year trial of recreational hunting on public land in that state. You can read the release for yourself, but the following ‘Fast Facts’ are provided:
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Labor rejects the trial of hobby hunting on public lands.
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Hobby hunting is an ineffective means of controlling feral animals.
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Labor does not want to promote a culture in WA whereby guns are acceptable.
I’m not sure what the point of an Opposition party ‘rejecting’ anything is, nor even who asked them, but I note that they have adopted the use of the term ‘hobby hunting’ from this article by WA RSPCA President Lynne Bradshaw. This is presumably a peurile attempt to trivialise the significant contribution of recreational hunting to positive economic and environmental outcomes, and is a worrying sign of collaboration between a political party and an animal liberation organisation.
For his part Chris Tallentire, who doesn’t look like he has ever even been outside let alone hunting or fishing, says that claims of the conservation benefits of hunting are ‘rubbish’ and that rec hunters on public would require “extensive supervision”. Really? What, like deer hunters in Victorian National Parks?
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