In what can only be described as an attempt to claw back youth voters amid a flailing primary vote in two recent state elections, the Australian Greens Party has announced it wants to legalise recreational marijuana. This comes just days after the party supported calls for an arbitrary limit on legal firearms ownership and sits aside a policy banning outright all privately-owned handguns.
“Prohibition has failed,” Greens leader Senator Richard Di Natale told a number of media outlets when announcing the policy on April 16. “Treating people like criminals doesn’t work,” he ironically claimed. Unfortunately, The Greens’ approach to proven legitimate items like firearms has long bordered on dictatorial rather than moderate.
Another quote that might resonate with law-abiding firearm owners came from former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer. “The sole reason for the huge criminal market place is prohibition,” he said.
The SSAA continues to point out that banning firearms based on emotion, as occurred in the Adler A110 lever-action shotgun case, and again with the recent recall of the Riverman OAF rifle based on ridiculous appearance laws, does not stop criminals accessing illegal guns.
Unsurprisingly, The Greens’ latest announcement is not the first time the party has demonstrated an illogical and hypocritical approach to policy-making. Former NSW Greens MLC Dr John Kaye once argued that “nothing would be gained by a ban” when debating access to alcohol for young people. The SSAA is calling out this blatant hypocrisy from an extreme political party.