The New South Wales premier has backtracked on a central element of a Shooters and Fishers’ private member’s bill – enshrining a right to hunt – saying it could undermine gun control and send the state down the US path of a right to bear arms.
“We won’t be supporting any provision in [the bill] that will water down gun laws in NSW. They’ve been important pieces of keeping the community safe for a long period of time,” Chris Minns said.
“In relation to the right to hunt, on reflection, I’ve had a look at it, and I think that that shouldn’t be in the legislation,” he said.
Minns had initially supported the controversial bill which would have allowed recreational hunters to shoot feral animals on public lands like state forests and crown lands.
But the Conservation Hunting bill has drawn widespread criticism from environmental groups, scientists, the gun control lobby and the architect of Australia’s tough gun control measures, the former prime minister John Howard.
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Environmentalists say recreational shooting of feral animals like pigs and deer is not as effective as professionally managed programs. Gun control advocates have argued that elements of the bill, particularly the right to hunt, were a slippery slide to liberalisation of guns.
Minns appears to have been persuaded to oppose one element of the bill though Labor may still support the bill with changes.
“You’re allowed to hunt in NSW, but whether you have a right to hunt, akin to a right to freedom of speech or a right to vote, I think they’re vastly different things,” Minns said.
Minns said he was also concerned that the right could evoke the idea of a right to bear arms, as exists in the US.
“We can never go down that road. There can’t be a right to bear arms in a country like Australia. We’ve seen that in other jurisdictions, in other places around the world, be a complete disaster. I don’t want that here in Australia,” he said.
A parliamentary committee is due to report on the bill on Friday, with the bill set to come before NSW parliament next week.
The Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment, Sue Higginson, said: “The premier’s decision to abandon the ‘right to hunt’ clause is a win for the community and for effective control of invasive species, but this bill is still a vehicle for the gun lobby.”
In the bill, the new Conservation Hunting Authority will replace the Game and Pest Management Advisory Board, which provides advice on pest management.
“The standalone, government-funded promotional platform for gun lobby that’s proposed in this law will exclude conservation experts, stack decision-making roles with gun advocates, and be required to promote hunting no matter the evidence,” Higginson said.
The body will cost $7.9m over the next two years.
Groups like the Alana and Madeline Foundation, set up by Walter Mikac after his wife and two young daughters were killed in the 1996 Port Arthur shooting, have also raised concerns.
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Stephen Bendle, from the foundation, said he was “very pleased that the premier had seen through some of the audacious claims that were being made by the gun lobby”.
“The right to hunt is a slippery slope towards the right to bear arms,” he said.
“We hope the premier now turns his mind to other aspects of the bill that we and other organisations have raised as concerns.”
The bill also includes proposals to allow the use of silencers and night vision glasses. Minns had already indicated he would seek to change these provisions.
The shadow cabinet was meeting to discuss its position on Monday afternoon.
Sources who were aware of the outcome of the meeting said the Liberals agreed to oppose the bill outright but the Nationals were still considering their position and were likely to support it with amendments.
The Greens have vowed to continue fighting the legislation.
“Chris Minns wants the people of NSW to believe that this is about conservation and it’s just not – this is about politics. The premier is pushing this bill as part of a deal to secure support from the Shooters in shoring up support for his minority government,” Higginson said.
