SSAA NSW

22 Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. order to achieve that, in law, you could not start from where the current legislation is now and hope to modify that. You would have to write a new law. We could go back to laws in the 1980s and I think they weren't too bad in retrospect. We didn't think they were very good at the time, but in retrospect they weren't too bad. If I was in a position where I could change the law in NSW, I would have to act incrementally. I would have to act on some of the more egregious aspects of things that annoy people. 6. Would you support the reintroduction of hunting seasons in NSW? Most of the animals that shooters hunt are pests. Pigs, foxes, rabbits, dogs, wild dogs and feral cats are all pests. There is no justification for a hunting season for any of them. They should be regarded as shoot on sight. In fact, I would lift some of the restrictions of where you can shoot in order to allow them to be shot. The only animals we've ever thought there might be a justification for a hunting season for are ducks and deer. They're both a bit controversial, and I think the reason for a season on ducks is easier to justify because native ducks are shot along with introduced ducks. Australians have a wariness about shooting native animals, even when they're ducks and when they breed into massive numbers and then die off in massive numbers. As far as native animals go, it's worth noting that you cannot shoot kangaroos without a permit and I don't think Australians would tolerate a change to that. Some kangaroos are shot without a permit but that's illegal. A farmer who needs to reduce the numbers of kangaroos needs to get a permit and then get shooters in. Whether that system is as good as it could be, is another matter. A season is based on the idea that there are certain times of year when it is and is not acceptable to hunt animals. The argument for a season on deer is based on the assumption they are game animals not pest animals and that they shouldn't ever really be hunted to extinction or to decrease the population to insignificant levels. Additionally, the thinking is that there are certain times of year when they are breeding, and it is inhumane to hunt them during their breeding seasons. There's really mixed views about that. I think within five years in NSW they will be reclassified as pests, I cannot see the current classification surviving and I don't think it will hurt. I don't think the argument about hunting deer in their reproductive season is compelling, and there's no chance deer will be wiped out or even significantly reduced. There are arguments both ways, but I am much more sympathetic to the argument that we hunt deer as the solution to overpopulation rather than poisoning deer. 7. We have R Licences for state forests and G Licences for private property hunting in NSW. What's your view on needing to have a licence to hunt on private land? I approach this from a private property point of view. I have a farm, and in my opinion, it's my business who I allow to hunt on my farm, it's not the government's business. It's my property, not the government's property, and if I want to allow someone in to hunt deer it's none of the government's business, so I am very opposed to the G Licence idea. On government land, in state forests, where you're allowed to hunt if you have an R Licence, it's the government's land. If they want to place conditions on who can hunt there, and how, they're entitled to as it's their property. Should there be a general hunting licence is what this amounts to, and do you need an additional licence on top of your firearms licence to go hunting? I don't see what public purpose it serves other than as a way to raise more money. 8. We have the NSW Election in March. Have the Liberal Democrats registered to run? Yes, we are registered, and we will be running an upper house ticket and candidates in lower house seats, although we don't know how many yet. We don't expect to win any lower house seats, but we do hope to win a seat in the upper house. In the next election we will run again, and we hope to win at least another upper house seat. We are aiming to be in a similar position to the Christian Democrats as holding two upper house seats after two elections and, possibly, the SFFP as well. However, some SFFP voters may be tempted to vote for us. The SFFP has over three percent of the vote now and, even if they lost one percent, I still think they'd win a seat, so I doubt it will be us or them. Full interview is available on the SSAA NSW website at www.ssaansw.org.au David Leyonhjelm Interview (Continued)

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