Shooters to target teens as senior National speaks of ‘discontent’
The older and established Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party is looking for ‘Young Shooters’ as they eye Barilaro’s seat. This comes as another Nationals woman speaks out about “discontent’ within the membership.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- ‘We all make mistakes’: Nats support Barilaro in licence loss
- Another MP lives on yacht, claims away from home allowance
Watch your back Bara, the Shooters are eyeing your seat. Almost five years since the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers seized the prized Nationals seat of Orange in a shock by-election result, the party is moving to increase its stake with the creation of ‘Young Shooters’.
Aimed at 17 to 18-year-olds, Young SFF has similar aims to Young Labor and Young Liberals in ensuring a supply line of potential new candidates while providing work experience opportunities in the party.
Shooters MLC Rob Borsak said member numbers had been growing “steadily” since the by-election win but the party faced the same issues as others in that some branches were also ageing.
“Since 2016, when we picked up a lot of members from the greyhound industry, and especially in the past few years, our membership has been growing,” he told The Sauce.
“We do have a younger cohort coming in from about 30-40 years, but the median membership age is between 40-47 years with about 65 per cent living outside of Sydney.
“Our biggest problem is finding good candidates. We have grown so quickly since 2016. The Young SFF program is about getting young members interested and engaged.”
GET MORE CONNECTED:
What you get as a subscriber to The Daily Telegraph
Download our app and stay up to date anywhere, anytime
As for women, the party was still very much male-dominated with 80 per cent of the membership being male, although the female membership was growing, he said.
This could further increase as the party branched out in to other policy areas beyond its core focus of firearms and fishing, Mr Borsak said.
“The fundamental thing that brought the Shooters Party together was loss of freedom, and that’s still very much the core of what we do,” he said.
“As far as we are concerned, if we think it’s relevant to our constituents, we will take a policy out on anything.”
Mr Borsak said the Shooters were actively looking at installing more members at local, state and federal government, including having a tilt at Monaro should Nationals leader John Barilaro decided he’s had enough.
“We would contest it, especially if we can find the right candidate,” he said.
NATIONALS WOES
Another senior Nationals woman has warned of growing “discontent” within the membership.
In a speech given to members gathered at the Gilgandra Shire Hall in the Parkes electorate recently, outgoing Central Executive member Sarah Heggaton spoke of how she had become “cynical” at how the party was being run.
Instead of working from the grassroots up, the party instead was being run from the top by elected and former elected representatives and staffers, she said.
If the goal was to have a party controlled by “apparatchiks, staffers and former members”, then the party should look to the ALP for inspiration, she added.
“As our MPs continually tell us, our party works from the grassroots up,” sources say she told the 45-strong gathering.
“Our leaders should be wondering more why it is that our disgruntled members continue to walk away from us and into the arms of parties such as the Shooters.”
As for trying to remedy some of the issues, apparently it’s a case of forget it.
“On occasion where I found myself disagreeing with some actions taken by the party and spoken up about it, I have found the response I have received extremely dissatisfying,” she said.
The speech was made after the resignation of Jess Price-Purnell from the Nationals Women’s Council.
GOT SOME SAUCE? Contact linda.silmalis@news.com.au