hunting in national parks, NSW and Qld

["Greg Little" <>]

John

The requirement of insurance for potential shooters in the parks is a good
idea.

Greg

-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of John Wright
Sent: Saturday, 21 July 2012 1:06 PM
To: John Leonard
Cc: Canberra Birds; Birding-aus
Subject: hunting in national parks, NSW and Qld

Sounds good. Although there would be a large number of hunters who would
operate professionally and with low-impact, there unfortunately will
probably also be a significant percentage of "ferals with guns"
who could pose a danger to the general public (and to themselves) if allowed
to hunt unrestricted in the parks. I also think that the knowledge of
unregulated, unsupervised hunters being active in a national park would
deter families, overseas tourists, etc. from wanting to visit it.
Additionally, national parks are supposed to be places where people can
relax and enjoy the tranquility of unspoiled and unpolluted natural beauty;
the last thing I would want or expect when visiting the solitude of a
national park is to hear gunshots ringing out all the time. Your point about
hunting dogs potentially being used is also well made - you also wouldn't
want to come across a pack of those while hiking, especially if their owner
was several minutes behind them (mind you, you could shoot them yourself and
get some bounty money!)

As I said in a previous response, I think penalties for any violations of
the law need to carry special mandatory criminal sentences more severe than
normal if they occur within a national park. The burden of proof should also
be put on the defendant rather than the prosecution, so that the hunter is
automatically assumed guilty unless he or she can prove that they weren't
the culprit. Perhaps the gun club that the person belongs to should also be
held jointly liable for any violations by their members. Each hunter should
also be required to have the minimum 10 million dollars of public liability
cover that commercial users of the national parks need to have before
allowed access. These provisions would be necessary to try to ensure that if
the hunting within national parks gets the green light, at least the hunters
would be aware that what they got was a special privilege, not some kind of
right.

John
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