NSW election 2023: bizarre policies backed by Greens, Shooters
As NSW’s political parties gear up for the election, the Shooters have unveiled several eyebrow-raising plans in their bid to be elected. Here are some of the bizarre policies they’ve revealed.
State Election
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Shredding protections for koalas in a bid to reinvigorate the logging industry will be a key priority of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) members if elected on March 25, with the party’s NSW leader declaring: “We don’t believe koala are as endangered as what the major parties are implying.”
The statement from Upper House MP Robert Borsak comes as his party puts the rural seats of Dubbo and the Upper Hunter in its crosshairs.
The party – whose founding principle is more freedom for firearms holders and includes opposing the creation of a national firearms registry – has a swathe of lesser-known policies on which it’ll campaign ahead of the March 25 vote.
Top of that list is slashing away at koala protection policies brought in by the NSW government, with Mr Borsak also saying the party opposes a national park specifically formed to protect koalas on the north coast near Coffs Harbour.
“We oppose the Great Koala National Park … it’ll effectively be the death knell of the timber industry,” he said.
Mr Borsak said forests used for logging provided safer habitats for koalas as they were actively managed, unlike national parks.
The party’s manifesto also includes pushing for more realistic shooting games such as Airsoft – where competitors shoot plastic pellets at each other from low-powered airguns – in the state.
Mr Borsak also slammed the possibility of a mandated cashless gaming card for all pokies users in the state, saying it would hobble regional clubs.
“We believe cashless gaming card for problem gamblers must be implemented (but) what we don’t support is the blanket approach that (Premier) Perrottet is talking about which in our view would wipe out at least 50 per cent of clubs in regional and rural NSW,” he said.
GREENS’ WEIRDEST ELECTION POLICIES
Infant puppies as young as eight weeks would be forced to be desexed, while Australia’s multi-billion live export trade would be shuttered and woodburning fireplaces ripped out of homes when they’re sold as part of a suite of bizarre NSW Greens policies.
The party would also scrap all public transport fares in NSW and open up voting to 16 and 17-year-olds, as part of an election platform they hope will enable them to grow their numbers in the lower house from the three MPs fighting for re-election.
The party’s long-list of policies take on an extra importance given they could form a sizeable chunk of a crossbench both Labor or the Coalition could have to negotiate with in the form of a hung parliament.
While free transport and lowering the voting age are among the state party’s flagship policies, other less known stances include mandatory desexing of pets at the point of sale – which is often eight weeks for puppies – or adoption.
While the RSPCA recommends dogs be desexed at four months at the earliest, NSW Greens MP and spokeswoman for animal welfare, Abigail Boyd said the party’s policy was flexible on when newly-purchased pets would be operated on.
“We will follow the science to determine if certain age limitations should be put in place, to ensure the best outcomes foranimals and the community,” she said.
Ms Boyd said the party’s stance to end to the $27 billion live-animal export trade was a key federal stance but “as a general principle, we support a transition package for all impacted workers as we move away from unsustainable and outdated industries such as this one”.
The Greens would also push for all wood heaters that do not comply with a new health-based standard to be removed when houses are sold, with Ms Boyd saying the government should “provide assistance to households who would find it financially difficultto afford to upgrade from old and polluting appliances”.
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