Hello Christine,
The relevant legislation can be found here:
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/nswbills.nsf/0/c8afc0c4709e478bca25788e0005e862/$FILE/b2011-163-d18-House.pdf
Also relevant to the shooting of Australian Native birds is:
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/nswbills.nsf/0/7adf4bd7ff7246e0ca257a5a0020e0b1/$FILE/66541722.pdf/b2012-109-d08-House.pdf
The official NPWS position is here:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pestsweeds/spc.htm
The Shooters agenda can be found on this page:
http://www.shootersandfishers.org.au/
A very objective scientific analysis of the arguments can be read here:
http://www.invasives.org.au/documents/file/fs_rechunt2_NSWvfacts.pdf
Political comment can be found here:
http://davidshoebridge.org.au/2012/06/21/game-and-feral-animal-control-act-legislation-debate/
The current balance of power in the NSW parliament is that the O'Farrell
government have to have the support of both the Shooters and the
Christians to get their legislation passed through both houses. The
Shooters are very clever people and they are using this situation to enact
the maximum of their agenda through the parliament. Both the Liberals
and Labor desperately want to sell off the Electricity Generating Power
Stations
so the will be in private hands and return nice profits to their owners
and to the owners of the coal mines supplying them. This also puts
off any need (in their eyes) to build solar and gas power stations.
Moral considerations about global climate change do not enter into the
minds of these people.
The Shooters have successfully sold the idea that using NSW National
Parks for their blood sport is a good thing. They are selling the idea that
their shooting will make an impact on the numbers of feral animals in
our national parks, a concept thoroughly debunked in the fact sheet
from the Invasive Species Council <http://www.invasives.org.au/> in the
link above. The Murdock press (News Limited) and the commercial TV
stations have uncritically
pushed this line. Wonderfully Orwellian terms such as "Conservation
Hunting" and "Supplementary Pest Control" are being fed to the public.
The shooters have no intention of reducing the number of feral animals
in NSW. In fact everything they want is directed to /increasing/ the
number of feral animals so as to make their blood sport easier. See, for
example, the Game Council <http://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/> web site
where, at the moment,
shooting of feral deer is illegal. This is because it is deer breeding
season and shooting of pregnant deer will reduce the number of deer.
The staff of the National Parks and Wildlife Service are overwhelmingly
opposed to the idea of letting the shooters into National Parks.
However the legislation is
phrased such the the key decisions and day to day control of shooting in
NSW is in the hands of the NSW Game Council
<http://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/>, an organisation run by
shooters for shooters but funded by we taxpayers.
The list of National Parks in which shooting will be allowed has been
phrased as all NSW National Parks and Nature Reserves /excep//t/ certain
ones
which all happen to be close to Barry O'Farrell's electorate in Sydney.
In my area, the electorate of the Minister for Environment (including
National Parks),
Robyn Parker, all National Parks are on the list to be considered for
shooting. Some, such as Myall Lakes NP, have no feral animal problem at
the moment.
I have no proof but there are persistent stories that the shooters are
transporting deer etc to new locations so that they will have something
to kill.
We must have proper regimes for the control and if possible, total
elimination, of feral animals in our National Parks. This involves well
understood
methods including mustering where possible, baiting, trapping and,
usually lastly, shooting from helicopters. This should be done by
professionals
in the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Most people would consider it ridiculous to let unemployed abattoir
workers to assist in hospitals to reduce the operations waiting time.
Similarly
it would be silly to let graffiti sprayers into Art Galleries to reduce
the cost of repainting the walls. Letting goons with guns into National
Parks
to "control feral pests" is equally silly.
Cheers,
Jim Smart
East Maitland
On 13/02/15 10:22 , Chris Melrose wrote:
Hi All
Can someone please tell me where the detail about hunting in NPs can be found?
Can one read the legislation somewhere? Can we find out the details of the
proposals?
We visited Gluepot last year just after it had been closed for several days so
that aerial baiting and shooting could take place. Surely NSW politicians are
not dumb enough to allow parks to be open when shooting takes place.
And then somewhere there must be a list of what can and can't be taken. How do
I get hold of this information?
Thanks
Christine
Christine Melrose
0407705140
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