SSAA NSW

4 Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. Jai's Journal It is an honour to have been unanimously appointed CEO and Executive Director of SSAA NSW Inc., working for an organisation with a proud history of representing law abiding firearm owners and with over 56,000 SSAA (NSW) members has been instrumental in providing a strong voice as the peak body within the shooting community. 2019 is already shaping up to be an amazing year for SSAA NSW and I look forward to working with you to continue supporting LAFO's and protecting, preserving and promoting our sport. I have been overwhelmed by the support and good wishes by our members and for that I thank you. Only working together can we achieve for the shooting community. It has been an extremely busy start, meeting with members of Parliament, working with our team to enhance range development, meeting many of our Branches and volunteers, liaising with key stakeholders including the Firearms Registry. I take this opportunity to thank our hardworking staff who support our members day in and day out. We all look forward to building on our strong platform and find new and innovative ways to deliver for you. My formula for success in this role is simple and can be broken down as follows: Valuing and supporting our existing volunteers and members Without our volunteers and members, our organisation ceases to exist. Every week hardworking people volunteer their time to strengthen SSAA NSW and introduce our exciting sport to the wider community. I have seen your hard work first hand and as your CEO, my priority is working for and supporting you! My door is open to everyone and our office is there to help. It has been fantastic to already receive feedback on how we can deliver even more as an organisation. Together with the NSW Board, over the next year we are working to increase service delivery and identify new opportunities to support our members. If you have any feedback or suggestions, I would love to hear your thoughts. Working collaboratively with you is important to me and is the key for future success. I will lead from a very transparent approach, acknowledging that we are all in this together. Growing our membership One of our strengths is the size of our membership. This allows SSAA NSW to have credibility when engaging with Firearms Registry or within the political or bureaucratic spheres. A fun fact is that SSAA NSW is larger than the membership of the two major political parties in NSW combined. Having a large critical mass allows us to better support one another and provide avenues to introduce our sport to the wider public and in turn creating more awareness and acceptance of it. We are the largest shooting organisation in NSW, however, with over 56,000 members and approximately 250,000 firearm licence holders in NSW we have an opportunity to increase our membership and support even more existing firearm owners and strengthen our voice. Equally, I am determined that as we further promote our sport to the wider public, we create a compelling case for new firearm licence holders to join SSAA NSW. We need to not only promote our sport but also highlight the many benefits of joining SSAA NSW. I look forward to developing and implementing new strategies to increase our membership and will be calling on the support of all our Branches to help in this endeavour. Engage strongly with the political process Governments at all levels play a critical role for the shooting community whether it be the consideration of a development application for a new range, the support of funding to promote and enhance our sport and ranges or the introduction of laws or regulations that can support law abiding firearms owners or place additional restrictions on them. Whether we like it or not, it is important to engage within the political process to advance our cause and create awareness with decision makers in the interests of LAFO's. We cannot rely on Government to understand our organisation, members needs or funding requirements. As someone who has come from the political environment having worked at a Federal level and previously been elected at a Local and State level, I know only too well the importance of this engagement. My thorough understanding of the political process and the players within it, uniquely positions SSAA NSW to engage and promote our sport. I am pleased to report that in my first two months, I have met with Government including Senior Ministers within the Liberal, National, Labor parties, various members of minor parties including Robert Borsak from the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party, David Leyonhjelm from the Liberal Democrats, Mark Latham from One Nation, the Christian Democratic Party and various candidates for the upcoming 2019 state election. I thank our President, Lance Miller for his support at these meetings, the entire NSW Board for their leadership in recognising the importance of this engagement and to the members who have attended some of these meetings as they relate to local issues.

• Cover