Combined Firearms Council of Victoria

The animal liberationists are on the warpath, and what happened to the greyhound industry in NSW was one of the swiftest political executions we’ve seen in a long time. 

Oh – did I neglect to say hunting could be next?

The decision to ban greyhound racing in NSW has been claimed as a key victory by the Animal Justice Party.

You might think its great that shooters have two of their own elected in NSW.  However the Animal Justice Party also has one of its own in parliament, and learning fast.

So fast that the AJP’s vote increased substantially at the recent Federal Election.

Their own president, Steve Garlick, bragged that they are now “on a successful roll to get better outcomes for animals in Australia”.

The Animal Justice Party’s vote is a growing threat to shooters

The AJP got more than 50 times the vote it got from the 2013 election. They attracted more votes than our close friends, the Country Party, LDP and SFFP combined – although to be fair, they did run a lot more candidates.

In the seat of Latrobe, the AJP preferenced the anti-hunting Liberal MP Jason Wood while the Shooters, Fishers & Farmers Party ran against him.  The AJP got double the vote SFFP did, which helped saved Wood from defeat.

In the Senate, the AJP attracted the sixth largest vote in Victoria – and came very close to becoming a real problem for the shooting sports over the next few years.

We are lucky they didn’t get up – but we can’t continue to rely on luck forever.

Yes, they are on a roll.

The Party’s campaign against greyhound racing worked.

The AJP has campaigned to ban greyhound racing in NSW, which led to coverage by ABC Four Corners and ultimately the NSW government to ban the sport.

Don’t forget NSW has a conservative government, meaning that grey hound racing has no friends on either side of politics.  The AJP wasn’t just successful: it was devastatingly effective and swift in it’s execution of an industry.

.. and hunting could be next

If you wonder how high duck shooting is on their agenda, just ask where their Victorian convenor and party officials were at this year’s Victorian duck opening.  They were on our wetlands, protesting.

Then there was this ominous message on their website:

“If we want to end the cruelty of duck shooting, and many other animal abuses, we must win for them a measure of power. Only parliamentary power, supported by the public, will see these campaigns won.”

The ban in NSW came about because the greyhound industry wasn’t political prepared.  What happened there is very similar to what happened to shooters in 1996, from which we are only recovering now after developing targeted political strategies.

What it is, is a reminder that we cannot assume silence from our enemies is good. It could mean they are planning to after their next target, which may or may not be you.

So if you care about hunting, send this to your shooting mates.

Tell them to join our email list so they can get important updates in the lead up to the next Victorian State Election.  We need to be united.