The New South Wales Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party will not support the new national firearms agreement, which they say will restrict recreational hunting for 230,000 firearms holders.
The new agreement was posted online by the federal Attorney General’s Department on Friday without a release from the attorney general, George Brandis, or the justice minister, Michael Keenan.
The Shooters’ concerns focus on a new requirement for firearms licence owners to provide proof of permission of a landowner when they seek a firearms licence for recreational hunting or vermin control.
“New South Wales regulations already protect landowners by banning hunting on private land without the owner’s permission. This change is solely designed to prevent people obtaining firearms licences,” leader of the NSW Shooters party, Robert Borsak, said.
“230,000 licensed, law-abiding firearms owners in New South Wales could be affected by this change which penalises those doing the right thing. The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party will fight this change being ratified here.”
The 1996 firearms agreement, put in place after the Port Arthur massacre, has been under review by the federal government, prompted in part by the Martin Place siege.
The release of the new agreement took many political groups, gun control advocates and shooting lobby groups by surprise.
A controversial element of the agreement has been the classification of lever-action shotguns, particularly the Adler A110 shotgun. The government introduced an import ban on the weapon, sparking intense lobbying efforts from firearms organisations. The ban also caused tensions between the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and his predecessor Tony Abbott, and a rift within Coalition ranks.
The justice minister has been criticised for the lack of consultation over changes to the agreement. A group of 30 domestic-violence groups, gun-control advocates, politicians and prominent Australians criticised him for holding “one-sided” meetings in 2015 with the firearms lobby.
Political parties have accepted more than $300,000 in donations over the past 12 months from the firearms lobby, gun suppliers and manufacturers.
