Shooters candidate with a liking for sniper rifles could snatch seat from Nats
As the Shooters Fishers and Farmers party launches a campaign to insist its members are not soft on gun laws, one of its candidates has been seen posing with an oversized weapon in a photo captioned: ‘All the nice things we can’t have.’
NSW
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A shooter with a penchant for sniper rifles is poised to become the most likely candidate to steal a lower house seat from the Nationals at the upcoming state election.
Roy Butler, on track to edge out the Nationals in the knife-edge seat of Barwon, has been exposed as a sniper-rifle lover, posing for a photo grinning with an oversized weapon.
In another online post of rifles in the US, Shooters Fishers and Farmers candidate Mr Butler commented: “All the nice things we can’t have.”
It comes as The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Shooters Fishers and Farmers party will attempt to offset perceptions that the party stands for softer gun laws with a new ad campaign and letterbox drop to dispel “myths”.
Shooters Leader Robert Borsak dismissed the relevancy of the picture of Mr Butler, saying “obviously this is a photo of Mr Butler in the US somewhere”.
“What he is really doing is running for the seat of Barwon on the issues of water and drought,” he said.
“Law abiding firearms users should be able to use them and have them, but public safety is of the utmost importance.”
Mr Borsak restated: “We don’t support US-style guns laws.”
The Shooters and Mr Butler could hold the balance of power in the House if the government was to lose six seats.
RENEWED HOSTILITY ON POWER SOURCES
NSW would be required to generate half of its electricity from renewables by 2030 and move “as close as possible to 100 per cent” renewable energy by 2050 under a state Labor government.
If elected premier next month, Opposition Leader Michael Daley said he would introduce the state’s first renewable energy target as part of Labor’s climate change plan.
He has also vowed to hold a “climate change summit” in his first year of office to determine the best path to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
The outcomes of the summit would be enshrined into a “Climate Change Act”.
The Coalition does not have a renewable energy target, however, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has also set a lofty ambition for net zero emissions by 2050.
Department of Planning and Environment data shows renewable energy accounted for 15.6 per cent of the total energy generated in NSW in 2017/2018.
Mr Daley said his announcement was “not about a war on coal” and vowed coal-fired power stations across the state would operate until they are no longer viable.
There are five coal-fired power stations in NSW that are due to close between 2022 and 2043 — AGL’s Liddell plant is the first due to close. “There still will be a place for coal in NSW for decades to come, but it won’t be in baseload power generation,” Mr Daley said.
He also took aim at the Liberal and National parties, saying they were still in denial of climate change at both state and federal levels.
Labor’s energy spokesman Adam Searle said all state government agencies would be powered by renewable energy by 2025.
“We are setting a renewable energy target of at least 50 per cent by 2030 … that’s a first,’’ Mr Searle said.
“We will also make sure that the state government as a purchaser buys 100 per cent renewable energy for its own purposes by 2025.
“On top of that we will have a climate change summit … to chart NSW a pathway to net zero emissions by 2050 and the outcomes of that summit will be folded into a NSW government Climate Change Act.”
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said Labor’s approach represented “a real danger to the security of our power system”.
“It risks destabilising the market and making supply unreliable,” he said.
Environmental organisation Greenpeace said replacing “dirty power” with clean energy would lead to “cheaper bills’’ across NSW.
WIFE OF PREMIER’S ADVISER SCORES $200K POSITION
The wife of Gladys Berejiklian’s top office adviser was given a plum $200k-plus job in the Department of Premier and Cabinet less than a year before the election.
In the second jobs-for-staffers’ wives revelation in as many days, it can be revealed that Holly Hearne, the wife of Ms Berejiklian’s chief strategy lieutenant Brad Burden, was appointed to a newly created role in the Premier’s own department last July.
The Daily Telegraph understands the role — director, communications and engagement (regional NSW) — did not exist before Ms Hearne’s appointment.
Pressed repeatedly on this question, the government did not answer in the first instance, before replying: “This role was one of a number created to support the Department’s Regional NSW Group when it was created in 2017.”
A spokesman for Ms Berejiklian said: “The appropriate declaration was made to the chief of staff of the Premier at the time of the employment.” There is no suggestion Ms Hearne, formerly with the NBN, is not qualified for her job.
Asked a series of questions on whether other candidates were canvassed, a department spokesman said Ms Hearne’s employment “followed standard processes”.
The revelation comes just one day after it was revealed the wife of Ms Berejiklian’s key policy adviser for the upgrade of the Art Gallery was hired as the government relations co-ordinator for the gallery.
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