Shooters Party ties with Labor

In the aftermath of the 1988 election, the NSW Labor Party blamed the defeat of the Unsworth government on the attempt by the then Premier to tighten up gun laws. This was far from the reason for the defeat of the Unsworth government but this myth has become part of Labor history and has fuelled a long association between the shooters movement and senior Labor leaders.  This relationship has resulted in great benefits to shooting organisations.

Government funding to shooting clubs increased dramatically in 1997 after the Government established the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Shooting Clubs (MACOSC).  It helped fund shooting clubs and gave them grants for building shooting facilities on crown land.  In the first three years of MACOSC, shooting clubs received an additional $5 million in funding.

A big win for the Shooters Party was the enormous financial support it received from the Sporting Shooters Association (NSW) Inc (SSAA (NSW)) for its 2007 election campaign to elect the party’s upper house candidate, Roy Smith.  Roy Smith was also the Executive Officer of the SSAA (NSW) at the time that it donated a total of $458,286 to his own Shooters Party election campaign.  His name appears on some of the donor forms. 

The SSAA (NSW) earned the lion’s share of its money from the NSW firearms licensing scheme, introduced after a series of 1990 gun massacres.  The new laws gave responsibility for firearms testing and licensing to shooters organisations, and also required all licensed shooters to be financial members of a shooting organisation.   This scheme has poured millions of dollars into shooting organisations.  We understand the SSAA (NSW) is now the largest single recipient of this scheme.

Other big wins that Labor have delivered to the Shooters party include establishing the Game Council and with it new laws to allow recreational hunters to shoot feral game on private land and in state forests and building new shooting complexes. 

THE MECHANICS OF SHOOTING IN NSW

NSW Firearms licensing regime

In NSW all applicants for a shooting license must:

(a)    have a "certificate showing you have completed an approved Firearms Licence Qualification Course, such as the "SSAA Safe Shooting Course" (i.e. they make money providing these courses) .
See http://www.ssaansw.org.au/ObtainingAFirearm.htm
 
(b)    be a member of a shooting club (the largest of which is the SSAA) - so there are annual fees.  See http://www.ssaansw.org.au/Membership.htm

The SSAA (NSW) is currently the biggest organisation conducting firearms testing and licensing .It has become a powerful and cashed up organisation thanks to income derived from Firearms License testing.  It has developed close ties with the National Rifle Association of America (NRA).

How much money do firearms licenses generate?

In 2008 in NSW it cost $77 to take a test.  $20 stays with the club that arranges and conducts the test.  $50 goes to the shooting organization (e.g. SSAA). $7 goes to GST. The NSW government receives none of this money.

The number of people who take the tests each year is not known.   We understand that between 10,000 and 15,000 licences are issues each year.

10,000 licences per year at $50 per certificate totals $500,000 income going to shooting organisations each year. So over the years since the scheme was introduced millions of dollars have been raised for shooters organisations. 

History of Firearms testing

The firearms testing scheme was set up in NSW by Liberal Police Minister Ted Pickering in 1991. In the years prior to 1991 there had been a series of gun massacres that shifted the debate about gun control and resulted in the NSW government agreeing that shooters should be licenced.  

At that time the two key organisations to benefit from the Liberal regime were the NSW Firearm Safety and Training Council Ltd (NFSTC) and the NSW Shooting Association Ltd (both NFSTC and NSA are private companies.  NFSTC is an umbrella body, but most shooting associations are no longer affiliated).

The NSW Shooting Association Ltd received $600,000 in a watertight contract, never made public, to conduct testing and licensing from 1991 until 2006.  They did not have their contract renewed by the Labor Government in 2006.  We understand that the SSAA (NSW) is now the major beneficiary of firearms licensing.

Further reading:  NSW Select Committee Upon Gun Law Reform's Report, 1991.

The Greens argue that testing should not be in the hands of shooting organisations but should be carried out by government. Many local shooting clubs and associations are also angry about the current arrangements. Some are not happy that they don't see any of the money raised, and some believe that any testing regime should be controlled by the government.

The NSW Game Council
http://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/

In 2002 the Labor government backed the Game and Feral Animals Control Bill 2002 that formed the Game Council, a Shooters Party initiative, to expand the hunting of animals in State Forests.  The Game Council:
•    runs the licensing system for game hunters (including granting licences and enforcement),
•    engages agents to licence hunters,
•    makes recommendations to Government Ministers about which public lands can be used for game hunting.

The Game Council has 16 members:
•    Eight members are nominees of hunting organisations;
•    One member is a nominee from the Rural Lands Protection Boards;
•    One member is a nominee of the Australian Veterinary Association;
•    One member is a nominee of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council;
•    Two members are to be wildlife management scientists;
•    The Ministers administering the Forestry Act 1916, the Crown Lands Act 1989 and the Game and Feral Animal Control Act 2002 have one nominee each.

Robert Brown was, until recently, the chairman of Game Council.
He was also:
•    No. 2 on Shooters Party ticket at 2003 State election;
•    Author of the bills establishing the Game Council;
•    An erstwhile adviser to Shooters Party MLC John Tingle;
•    Chairman of the Federation of Hunting Clubs;
•    The rep of the Australian Deer Association on the Game Council board.

Robert Brown became a member of the NSW Upper House in May 2006. He took the place of John Tingle.
Game Council licences were not well received by shooters at first as they only allowed them to shoot feral animals on private land, which they could already do. Hunting eventually commenced in State Forests in 2006.

THE SHOOTERS PARTY AND NSW LABOR

Gun Control laws

The Labor government have consistently resisted calls to make the gun control laws consistent. Semi-automatic longarms were banned after the Port Arthur massacre. Semi-automatic short pistols have still not been banned.

Labor delivered more money for shooters clubs

In April 1997 Premier Carr worked with John Tingle to establish a Ministerial Advisory Committee on Shooting Clubs (MACOSC). The purpose of the committee was to provide a whole-of-Government approach to issues affecting shooting clubs, to help clubs obtain Crown Land for ranges and finance to develop or redevelop them.

It is understood that after the 1999 election Premier Carr regularly met with John Tingle, as part of Labor’s strategy to win the support of the crossbench members of the Upper House. In 1995 there were seven cross bench MPs in the Upper House. After the 1999 tablecloth ballot election the number of cross benchers increased to 13.

From 1999 to 2003 Labor had to work hard to gain the support of enough cross benchers to have their legislation passed. The government’s relationship with Mr Tingle appears to have been productive for both sides. Shooting organisations made gains and on many issues the government could rely on Mr Tingle’s support.

From 1998 to 2001 the Shooters Party secured over $5 million in additional funding for shooters clubs.    An average 20 clubs per year were given funding ranging from $2,000 to $45,000 for specific projects. Overall shooting clubs received a huge increase in public funding and several new shooting ranges and regional shooting complexes were built. 

John Tingle was quoted in his newsletter, dated 22/6/2001: 
https://www.ssaa.org.au/newssaa/political%20archive/documentsofinterest/australianz/nswspnewsletter.doc.

“Sport and Rec has some $4 million to distribute amongst all sporting bodies in the state, and the demand is heavy.    Approximately $100,000 is tagged each year for shooting clubs.   I’d like it to be more, but we try to place it where it will do the most good.   The fact that we’ve managed to persuade the Government to allocate well over $2.5 million extra in the last 3 years, in addition to the standard Sport and Rec grants makes up for the shortfall, I believe.”

“It should be said that one or two anti-gun oriented media persons have grumbled about “so much” money being given to shooting.   Let them grumble!   I have lobbied the Government very hard for this funding, and I apologise to nobody for getting it.”

John Watkins was the Minister for Sport and Recreation administering the Shooting Facility Development Programme during that time.

Shooters Party support for Labor in Legislative Council

Shooters Party MPs in the Upper House have provided reliable support to the Labor government in tight votes to have bills passed, to resist the release of secret government documents, to move government motions and to vote against potentially embarrassing parliamentary inquiries.

Shooters MPs have voted to pass crucial government legislation that the Greens and other cross benchers did not support, e.g.:

•    Law and order bills - Crimes Act, various amendments
•    Workers Compensation Legislation
•    Planning laws - Environmental Planning and Assessment Act amendments (Part 3A) and Environmental Planning Legislation Amendment bills
•    Gene Technology (GM Crop moratorium) Bill 2003
•    Threatened Species legislation

Shooters representatives have been appointed to a number of government boards where they have a vested interest, including the Pest Animal Management Council, the Animal Welfare Advisory Council and the Non-Indigenous Animals Council.

Regional shooting complexes

The Shooters Party, through MACOSC, has lobbied for approval and funding of numerous regional shooting complexes.  They gained 540 hectares for the Illawarra Shooting Association in the Dharawal Nature Reserve.  They also played a key role in establishing or extending shooting complexes at Cessnock, Emmaville, Inverell-Glen Innes, Mudgee, Bodalla, Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Hilltop and Hornsby. Crown Land was obtained for the Far South Coast Hunting Club at Bodalla.

Rudd – an unlikely ally?

Interesting links are emerging between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the gun lobby. Mr Rudd is the Patron of the Queensland Amateur Pistol Shooting Association and has met with the Sporting Shooting Association of Australia.  Mr Rudd is also reported to have close links with the Belmont Shooting Range, which is in his electorate. He is known as a keen clay target shooter and possibly a keen pistol shooter.