Shooters & Fishers Party election statement
The Shooters & Fishers Party (previously registered as the Shooters Party) currently has two representatives in the New South Wales Parliament, Robert Brown and Roy Smith, both of whom are long-time advocates for the shooting sports. Rob is a paid-up life member of SSAA NSW and Roy is a life member of both the SSAA National and NSW Associations.
The Party has had significant success in implementing positive changes in New South Wales and is working towards getting shooters and fishers into the Federal Parliament. Why? The Federal Government is intruding more and more upon the rights of freedoms of shooters, hunters and recreational fishers.
The 2010 Federal Election is just weeks away and politicians being what they are, they’ll say almost anything in an attempt to secure your vote. In fact, it’s not too hard to guess what the major political parties will have to say to sporting shooters. There will be phrases along the lines of “we recognize the role sporting shooters” or “we support people with a legitimate need such as sporting shooters and farmers” etc. Similar platitudes directed at recreational fishers will no doubt find their way into fishing magazines.
The big question is can we believe them? History, of course, tells us ‘NO’. Every parliamentary party in Australia - with the sole exception of the Shooters Party - has dumped shooters whenever it has become politically expedient to do so. This includes the Liberals, Labor and the Nationals. Every one of them. The Greens, of course, are openly anti-gun.
In today’s urbanised society, the political reality is that when push comes to shove, not one of the major parties is prepared to stand up and defend our right to own and use firearms. We’ve seen them dump us before, and they’ll do it again.
That’s why we need our own representatives in Parliament who are truly committed to defending our rights and freedoms. Getting Shooters & Fishers into Parliament will be critical to our future rights to own firearms, hunt and even fish. But even so, there’s sure to be plenty of shooters and fishers who are still thinking “I can’t get political, I’m a Labor voter (or Liberal or National) or there are ‘bigger’ or ‘more important’ issues than gun laws or hunting - issues such as jobs, the economy, education, health, social services or perhaps immigration”.
Well, thankfully, that’s why we all have two votes. Use your House of Representatives vote to vote for the candidate or party you want in Government, whether they be Labor, Liberal, National or Independent - hopefully not Greens. But use your Senate vote to support our sport, protect our right to own firearms, our freedom to hunt and fish. Shooters and fishers can vote for the Government they want in the House of Representatives and the Shooters & Fishers Party in the Senate and be confident that their vote for the Shooters & Fishers Party will have no influence on which of the major parties wins Government. Which party wins Government relies solely on who wins the majority of electorates (seats) in the House of Representatives (the small ballot paper) and the Shooters and Fishers Party will only be standing candidates for the Senate (the large ballot paper). The Shooters & Fishers Party does not compete with the major parties for seats in the House of Representatives.
If successful in winning a Senate seat, the Shooters & Fishers Party will use its influence to work with the Government of the day, whether it be the Labor Party or the Liberal National Coalition, to achieve the best outcome for responsible law-abiding firearms, hunters and fishers.
Furthermore, the Shooters & Fishers Party will work with other likeminded parties to counter the Greens Senate campaign. At the last Federal Election, the Greens stood Senate candidates in all states and territories, with the aim of securing a total of eight Senate seats. With Shooters & Fishers and other likeminded parties working together, they were successful in ensuring that three of those candidates were defeated. As we know, the Greens won five seats in the last election; if they had won eight, they would have held the balance of power in the Senate, which would be a disastrous situation for all of us. So please, help us stop the Greens from gaining control of the Senate in 2010.
Don’t forget, come election time, you’ll have two votes. Use your House of Representatives vote to elect the Government you want. But, use your Senate vote to protect our sport, our right to own firearms, hunt and fish.
In closing, it’s amazing how many people don’t realise the significance of their two votes. Please help us pass on the message and ask your friends and relatives to use their Senate vote to protect our rights and freedoms.
In the Senate, vote Shooters & Fishers.
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