The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) is an
Australian political party. It primarily advocates for increased funding and services for rural and regional Australia, protecting the right to farm, enhancing commercial and recreational fishing, tougher sentencing for illegal firearm trade and usage, and relaxing gun control for law abiding citizens.
The party was formed in 1992, and was known simply as the Shooters Party. It initially operated only in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, but has since expanded into other states. It was registered with the
Australian Electoral Commission
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.
Responsibilities
The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
(AEC) in 2007, and contested its first
federal election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
the same year. In July 2009, the party changed its name to the Shooters and Fishers Party, and in April 2016, the name was changed to its current name.
The party has also gradually broadened its policy focus, with water and regional health care being its main focus during the 2019 NSW state and federal election campaigns.
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party currently has two members in the
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in t ...
and one in the
Victorian Legislative Council
The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative C ...
. It has previously elected a member to the
Western Australian Legislative Council
The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...
. In November 2016, the party won its first
lower house seat in NSW, winning the seat of
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
in a by-election; subsequently increased to three seats following the
2019 New South Wales state election
The 2019 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 23 March 2019 to elect the 57th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election was ...
.
The party won the Western NSW seats of
Murray and
Barwon, which collectively represented more than half the land mass of NSW in state parliament.
History
The Shooters Party was formed on 2 May 1992 by journalist and broadcaster
John Tingle after the
New South Wales Government
The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party o ...
proposed to tighten gun control laws after a number of
Australian mass shootings. Tingle claimed the new laws would prevent citizens from owning firearms for self-defence.
Tingle was elected to the
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in t ...
at the
1995 NSW election in March 1995 for an eight-year term, the party's first representative.
After the
National Firearms Agreement came into force, Tingle and the Shooters Party encouraged and helped organise the formation of hunting clubs in many parts of New South Wales, and in November 1996 formed them into the Federation of Hunting Clubs. The Federation is a recognised umbrella group under the ''Firearms Regulations'', and the ''Firearms Act 1996'' (NSW) was amended to recognise membership of a hunting club as a "genuine reason" for a firearm licence. About 90% of all firearms licences were taken out for the purpose of hunting. In the Federation's returns with the
Australian Electoral Commission
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums.
Responsibilities
The AEC's main responsibility is to ...
since 2008/09, the Federation indicates that it is an associated entity of the Shooters and Fishers Party.
[AEC]
Associated Entity Disclosure Return, 2014/15
/ref> The Federation and the Shooters and Fishers Party share the same address, and most of the income of the Federation (about $30,000 in 2014/15) is donated to the Shooters and Fishers Party. The Hunter District Hunting Club donated a further $42,000 to the party in 2014/15. The total receipts of the party in that year were $148,256.
Tingle was elected to a second term at the 2003 NSW election. In 2005, Tingle claimed that the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia had joined forces with the Shooters Party, with Brown being a life member of the Association. At the time, the association had more than 35,000 (now has 175,000+) members and the other mainstay of the shooting fraternity, the Federation of Hunting Clubs, had more than 50,000 members. It was the basis of the powerful gun lobby group. Tingle in the Legislative Council served until 3 May 2006 when he, at the age of 74, resigned from Parliament before, allegedly due to illness believed to be cancer.
Robert Brown, the party's chairman since 2005, was nominated by the party to fill the casual vacancy for the remainder of Tingle's term which ended in 2011. Brown was re-elected at the 2011 NSW election
Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year-incumbent Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal–National Coalition opposition ...
for an eight-year term. In 2013 Tingle resigned his position as vice chairman of the party and has relinquished his membership of the party.
For the 2013 federal election, the Shooters and Fishers Party was involved in the Minor Party Alliance and its organiser, Glenn Druery, was on its payroll. The so-called alliance arranged a preference deal among the minor parties which enabled candidates with very small primary votes to win seats in the Senate. At the 2013 election the party obtained about 1% of the national Senate vote.
In 2016, the party added "Farmers" to the party title, with the name change formally registered on 12 April 2016. The party has since adopted a much broader agenda, developing policies in areas such as water management; regional health care; education; mining and energy; local government and policing.
From the 2011–2018 period, the party has received approximately $700,000 in political donations from pro-gun groups.
Policies
Water management
In the 2019 NSW state election, the SFF Party campaigned strongly on the need to change policies and management around the Murray Darling Basin (MDB). This followed a water crisis across NSW, where several towns were left without safe drinking water, millions of fish were killed in the Menindee Lakes and there were widespread allegations of water theft, government mismanagement and corruption.
SFF release a ten-point plan on water management, following consultation with farmers, water experts and regional communities. The plan called for:
* Full standardised metering and inspections across the MDB – a "no meter, no pump" rule for water extraction.
* An audit, measure and evaluate environmental water – management of environmental water must be centralised in the one entity, and the water kept for environmental purposes only (not sold or swapped). The costs and benefits of environmental flows must be analysed and reported on.
* A federal royal commission into water mismanagement and a five-year pause of the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP).
SFF argued a federal royal commission was needed to evaluate the flawed science, weak regulation and selective data undermining the MDBP; and flush out the corruption.
Firearms
The party's policies were initially entirely focused around firearms, asserting that every law-abiding citizen should have the right to own and use a firearm for legitimate purposes, including self-defence, a position that remains relatively unchanged but broadened in that they now advocate for the tougher sentencing for illegal gun use and do not condone "American style gun laws". In broadening the appeal the party now strongly supports recreational and conservation hunting
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/ tusks, horn/ a ...
, and laws giving shooters access to public land for hunting in a controlled ecological manner.
The Party counts among its achievements a number of successful Bills in New South Wales. These include those giving rights of self-defence to any citizen, anywhere, with immunity from civil or criminal liability; providing extra penalties for attacks on vulnerable people; giving families of homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
victims the right to be heard in court; establishment of the Game Council New South Wales now disbanded, and legislation allowing specifically licensed hunters to hunt on public land; government funding controlled by the party for shooting clubs, and the establishment and control of regional shooting complexes; recognition of membership of a hunting club as "genuine reason" for obtaining a firearms licence; and extension of minor permits from ages 18 to 12.
In 2019 NSW leader Robert Borsak stated that the party had no policies to weaken gun laws in NSW; although he called for a review of the functions and financing of NSW Firearms Registry.
Other policies
The leader of the NSW SFF, Robert Borsak
Robert Borsak (born 14 August 1953) is the leader of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF). He represents the party in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He was chosen by the Shooters and Fishers Party to fill the New South Wale ...
, promotes climate change denial
Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is Denial (Freud), denial, dismissal, or doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is Attribution of recent climate change, caused by hum ...
ism, stating that "scientific research, reports and arguments supporting human blame for climate change, were wrong".
In New South Wales, following the 2019 state election the party outlined its agenda that included calls for a NSW royal commission into water management
Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; sligh ...
, a "right to farm bill" to protect farmers against animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
activists
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fr ...
, and opposition to the Murray-Darling Basin plan, forced council mergers, and lockout laws in Sydney.
In Victoria, the party opposes the creation of the proposed Great Forest National Park
The Great Forest National Park is a proposed national park in eastern Victoria, Australia. It is envisaged that the park would protect the forests of the Central Highlands and species of conservation concern such as the endangered Leadbeater's ...
in central Victoria, while their Victorian MP Jeff Bourman unsuccessfully attempted to relax restrictions on gun silencers for licensed hunters.
Political activities
Federal politics
Before the 2004 federal election, the Australian Shooters Party was deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission for failing to contest a federal election for four years. It was re-registered after the 2004 federal election but was deregistered again on 27 December 2006, along with a number of minor parties which did not have a representative sitting in Federal Parliament. Re-registration was achieved in August 2007. The Australian Shooters Party contested the 2007 federal election and received 0.28% of the national vote and 1.1% of the vote in NSW. The Party was instrumental in flowing preferences away from the Greens in NSW, Queensland and Victoria.
Glenn Druery who was behind the 2013 federal election preference deal successes with candidate elections on 0.2 and 0.5 percent was remunerated by the Shooters and Fishers Party for assisting in organising preference meetings and negotiating preference flows between parties. The party has been involved in Druery's Minor Party Alliance.
In May 2018, it was reported that Senator Brian Burston of One Nation had attempted to defect to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party; he would have been the party's first federal representative. Robert Borsak
Robert Borsak (born 14 August 1953) is the leader of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF). He represents the party in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He was chosen by the Shooters and Fishers Party to fill the New South Wale ...
, the party's leader in New South Wales, said that "I don't think he'd be a good representative for us ..we're not that desperate for a Canberra representative at the moment and when we do, we'll use our own people." However, Burston subsequently stated: "The claim that I have approached the Shooters Party is totally and absolutely false".
New South Wales
At the 2007 New South Wales state election, the Shooters Party received 2.8% of the primary vote for the Legislative Council (↑0.8%) and lead candidate Roy Smith was elected to the Legislative Council. On 30 July 2010, Smith died in his sleep and Robert Borsak
Robert Borsak (born 14 August 1953) is the leader of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF). He represents the party in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He was chosen by the Shooters and Fishers Party to fill the New South Wale ...
was nominated by the party to fill the casual vacancy. As a result, the party holds 2 seats in the NSW Upper House. In 2009 an agreement was reached to allow hunters onto public lands in a deal with the government.
At the 2011 New South Wales state election, the Liberal/National Coalition took government but with three seats short of a majority in the upper house. The Shooters and Fishers Party held two seats along with the Christian Democratic Party
__NOTOC__
Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social te ...
, with the balance of power shifting from the Greens to the two parties. The Shooters and Fishers Party was reported to have created a "shopping list" of demands in exchange for legislative support of the now Liberal/National government, however the government "ruled out" any deals with the Shooters.
In May 2012 the party negotiated a deal with the O'Farrell government giving recreational shooters access to national parks to cull feral animals including pigs, rabbits and deer by allowing the passage of laws through the NSW Upper House to sell the state-owned power generating assets of Eraring Energy
Eraring Energy was an electricity generation company in Australia that was owned by the Government of New South Wales, and had a portfolio of generating sites using thermal coal, wind, and hydroelectric power. It was sold to Origin Energy in ...
, Delta Electricity and Macquarie Generation
Macquarie Generation is an electricity generation company in New South Wales, Australia, owned by AGL Energy, and has a portfolio of generating sites using predominantly thermal coal power. The company now trades as AGL Macquarie and generates ...
, that were claimed to yield up to A$3 billion. Deals continue to have fallout.
At the state by-election for Orange on 12 November 2016, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate Philip Donato became the party's first lower house member, defeating the incumbent National Party for the seat in the Legislative Assembly.
In the 2019 New South Wales state election
The 2019 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 23 March 2019 to elect the 57th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election was ...
, the party made breakthroughs in the state's lower house, with candidates Roy Butler and Helen Dalton winning the seats of Barwon and Murray respectively. On 3 March 2022, Dalton resigned from Shooters Fishers and Farmers due to disagreeing with the party's Legislative Council members not showing up to vote against a bill regarding water usage that she believed would "disadvantage communities and irrigators in the lower Darling and Murray river system". On 12 December 2022, Butler and Donato resigned over the behaviour of leader Robert Borsak.
South Australia
At the 2006 South Australian state election
The state election for the 51st Parliament of South Australia was held in the Australian state of South Australia on 18 March 2006 to elect all members of the South Australian House of Assembly and 11 members of the South Australian Legislativ ...
, two Shooters Party candidates for the Legislative Council, Robert Low and Michael Hudson, preferenced the Family First Party as well as the One Nation Party. The Shooters Party received just under 6,000 votes, or 0.6% of the electors, with a 0.08 quota. Neither candidate was elected. The party also contested the 2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
(as Shooters) and 2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
(as Shooters and Fishers) elections, increasing the number of votes in each but not enough to achieve a quota. It was deregistered before the 2018 election.
Victoria
At the 2014 Victorian state election
The 2014 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, was for the 58th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 40 seats in the Victorian Legislative Council were up for election. The incum ...
, two Shooters and Fishers candidates were elected to the Legislative Council: Jeff Bourman received 2.44% first preference votes in the Eastern Victoria Region
Eastern Victoria Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was created in 2 ...
and was elected on preferences from the other minor parties, and Daniel Young received 3.5% first preference votes in the Northern Victoria Region
Northern Victoria Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was created ...
and was also elected on preferences. Bourman was re-elected in 2018, while Young was defeated.
Western Australia
At the 2013 Western Australian state election, Shooters and Fishers candidate Rick Mazza was elected to the Legislative Council with 3.09% of the vote in the Agricultural Region
The Agricultural Region is a multi-member electoral region of the Western Australian Legislative Council, located in the South West, Peel and part of the Great Southern regions of the state. It was created by the ''Acts Amendment (Electoral Re ...
. Nigel Hallett
Nigel Charles Hallett (born 6 February 1953) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council representing the South West Region from 2005 to 2017. Elected to Parliament in the 2005 state election he ...
was elected for the Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a l ...
in South West Region, but changed to the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers in June 2016. Mazza retained his seat at the 2017 election, but Hallett did not. Mazza subsequently formed a 'conservative bloc' with One Nation and the Liberal Democratic Party in the Legislative Council.
State and territory divisions
The current Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party divisions are the following:
Electoral Results
Federal
New South Wales
Victoria
Western Australia
Political representatives
Current members of parliament
New South Wales
=Legislative Council
=
* Robert Borsak
Robert Borsak (born 14 August 1953) is the leader of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF). He represents the party in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He was chosen by the Shooters and Fishers Party to fill the New South Wale ...
MLC, 2010–present
* Mark Banasiak
Mark Jared Banasiak is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2019, representing the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.
Banasiak was president of the Sporting Shooters Association befor ...
MLC, 2019–present
Victoria
* Jeff Bourman – Member for Eastern Victoria Region in the Victorian Legislative Council
The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative C ...
, 2014–present
Past members of parliament
;New South Wales
* Roy Smith – New South Wales Legislative Council, 2007–2010
* John Tingle – New South Wales Legislative Council, 1995–2006
* Robert Brown – New South Wales Legislative Council, 2006–2019
* Helen Dalton, Member for Murray, 2019–2022
* Roy Butler, Member for Barwon, 2019–2022
* Philip Donato, Member for Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
, 2016–2022
;Victoria
* Daniel Young – Victorian Legislative Council
The Victorian Legislative Council (VLC) is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative C ...
, 2014–2018
;Western Australia
* Nigel Hallett
Nigel Charles Hallett (born 6 February 1953) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council representing the South West Region from 2005 to 2017. Elected to Parliament in the 2005 state election he ...
– Western Australian Legislative Council, 2016–2017
* Rick Mazza – Western Australian Legislative Council
The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...
, 2013–2021
See also
*List of political parties in Australia
The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal/National Coalition. Federally, 16 of the 151 members of the lower house ( ...
* Gun laws in Australia
References
Further reading
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party
* Swain, Marie.(1996) ''Gun control : historical perspective and contemporary overview'' Sydney, NSW Parliamentary Library Research Service, 1996. . Series: Briefing paper (New South Wales. Parliamentary Library Research Service) ; no. 11/96
{{Authority control
Agrarian parties
Conservative parties in Australia
Green conservative parties
Gun politics in Australia
Political parties established in 1992
Recreational political parties
Political parties in New South Wales
Political parties in Victoria (Australia)
Political parties in Western Australia
Agrarian parties in Australia