Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation |
|
| Founder | John Tingle |
| Founded | 2 May 1992; 33 years ago (2 May 1992) |
| Headquarters | Sydney,New South Wales,Australia |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| Tasmanian House of Assembly | 1 / 35 |
| New South Wales Legislative Council | 2 / 42 |
| Victorian Legislative Council | 1 / 40 |
| Local government councillors (NSW) | 4 / 1,480 |
| Website | |
| shootersfishersandfarmers | |
| Seats inlocal government | |
|---|---|
| Dubbo[7] | 2 / 11 |
| Junee[8] | 1 / 9 |
| Hawkesbury[9] | 1 / 12 |
| Part ofa series on |
| Conservatism in Australia |
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TheShooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) is aconservativeAustralian political party. It primarily advocates for increased funding and services for rural andregional Australia,[10] protecting the right to farm,[11] enhancing commercial and recreational fishing,[12] and relaxing gun control for citizens.[13]
The party was formed in 1992, and was known simply as theShooters Party. It initially operated only inNew South Wales, but has since expanded into other states. It was registered with theAustralian Electoral Commission (AEC) in 2007, and contested its firstfederal election the same year.[14] In July 2009, the party changed its name to theShooters and Fishers Party,[15] and in April 2016, the name was changed to its current name.[16][17] The party has also gradually broadened its policy focus, with water and regional health care being its main focus during the 2019 NSW state and federal election campaigns.[18]
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party currently has two members in theNew South Wales Legislative Council and one in theTasmanian House of Assembly andVictorian Legislative Council. It has previously elected members to theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly and theWestern Australian Legislative Council.
In November 2016, the party won its firstlower house seat in NSW, winning the seat ofOrange in a by-election; subsequently increased to three seats following the2019 New South Wales state election.[19][20] However, in 2022 all three NSW Legislative Assembly members of parliament left the party to sit as independents.
The Shooters Party was formed on 2 May 1992 by journalist and broadcasterJohn Tingle after theNew South Wales Government proposed to tighten gun control laws after a number ofAustralian mass shootings. Tingle claimed the new laws would prevent citizens from owning firearms for self-defence.[21] Tingle was elected to theNew South Wales Legislative Council at the1995 NSW election in March 1995 for an eight-year term, the party's first representative.
After theNational Firearms Agreement came into force, Tingle and the Shooters Party encouraged and helped organise the formation of hunting clubs in many parts of New South Wales, and in November 1996 formed them into the Federation of Hunting Clubs. The Federation is a recognised umbrella group under theFirearms Regulations, and theFirearms Act 1996 (NSW) was amended to recognise membership of a hunting club as a "genuine reason" for a firearm licence. About 90% of all firearms licences were taken out for the purpose of hunting. In the Federation's returns with theAustralian Electoral Commission since 2008/09, the Federation indicates that it is an associated entity of the Shooters and Fishers Party.[22] The Federation and the Shooters and Fishers Party share the same address, and most of the income of the Federation (about $30,000 in 2014/15) is donated to the Shooters and Fishers Party.[23] The Hunter District Hunting Club donated a further $42,000 to the party in 2014/15.[24] The total receipts of the party in that year were $148,256.[25]
Tingle was elected to a second term at the2003 NSW election. In 2005, Tingle claimed that theSporting Shooters Association of Australia had joined forces with the Shooters Party, with Brown being a life member of the Association. At the time, the association had more than 35,000 (now has 175,000+) members and the other mainstay of the shooting fraternity, the Federation of Hunting Clubs, had more than 50,000 members. It was the basis of the powerful gun lobby group.[21] Tingle in the Legislative Council served until 3 May 2006 when he, at the age of 74, resigned from Parliament before, allegedly due to illness believed to be cancer.
Robert Brown, the party's chairman since 2005, was nominated by the party to fill the casual vacancy for the remainder of Tingle's term which ended in 2011. Brown was re-elected at the2011 NSW election for an eight-year term. In 2013 Tingle resigned his position as vice chairman of the party and has relinquished his membership of the party.
For the2013 federal election, the Shooters and Fishers Party was involved in theMinor Party Alliance and its organiser,Glenn Druery, was on its payroll. The so-called alliance arranged a preference deal among the minor parties which enabled candidates with very small primary votes to win seats in the Senate.[26][27][28] At the 2013 election the partyobtained about 1% of the national Senate vote.
In 2016, the party added "Farmers" to the party title,[16] with the name change formally registered on 12 April 2016.[17] The party has since adopted a much broader agenda, developing policies in areas such as water management; regional health care; education; mining and energy; local government and policing.[29]
From the 2011–2018 period, the party has received approximately $700,000 in political donations from pro-gun groups.[30]
In the 2019 NSW state election, the SFF Party campaigned strongly on the need to change policies and management around theMurray Darling Basin (MDB). This followed a water crisis across NSW, where several towns were left without safe drinking water,[31] millions of fish were killed in the Menindee Lakes[32] and there were widespread allegations of water theft, government mismanagement and corruption.[33]
SFF release a ten-point plan on water management, following consultation with farmers, water experts and regional communities. The plan called for:
SFF argued a federal royal commission was needed to evaluate the flawed science, weak regulation and selective data undermining the MDBP; and flush out the corruption.
The party's policies were initially entirely focused aroundfirearms, asserting that every law-abiding citizen should have the right to own and use a firearm for legitimate purposes, including self-defence, a position that remains relatively unchanged but broadened in that they now advocate for the tougher sentencing for illegal gun use and do not condone "American style gun laws".[34] In broadening the appeal the party now strongly supports recreational and conservationhunting, and laws giving shooters access to public land for hunting in a controlled ecological manner.[35]
The Party counts among its achievements a number of successful Bills in New South Wales. These include those giving rights of self-defence to any citizen, anywhere, with immunity from civil or criminal liability;[citation needed] providing extra penalties for attacks on vulnerable people;[citation needed] giving families ofhomicide victims the right to be heard in court;[citation needed] establishment of theGame Council New South Wales now disbanded,[citation needed] and legislation allowing specifically licensed hunters to hunt on public land; government funding controlled by the party for shooting clubs, and the establishment and control of regional shooting complexes; recognition of membership of a hunting club as "genuine reason" for obtaining a firearms licence; and extension of minor permits from ages 12 to 18.[36]
In 2019 NSW leader Robert Borsak stated that the party had no policies to weaken gun laws in NSW; although he called for a review of the functions and financing of NSW Firearms Registry.[37]
The leader of the NSW SFF,Robert Borsak, promotesclimate change denialism, stating that "scientific research, reports and arguments supporting human blame for climate change, were wrong".[38][39]
In New South Wales, following the 2019 state election the party outlined its agenda that included calls for a NSWroyal commission intowater management, a "right to farm bill" to protect farmers againstanimal rightsactivists, and opposition to theMurray-Darling Basin plan,forced council mergers, andlockout laws in Sydney.[37]
In Victoria, the party opposes the creation of the proposedGreat Forest National Park in central Victoria, while their Victorian MP Jeff Bourman unsuccessfully attempted to relax restrictions on gun silencers for licensed hunters.[40]
Before the2004 federal election, the Australian Shooters Party was deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission for failing to contest a federal election for four years. It was re-registered after the 2004 federal election but was deregistered again on 27 December 2006,[41] along with a number of minor parties which did not have a representative sitting in Federal Parliament. Re-registration was achieved in August 2007. The Australian Shooters Party contested the2007 federal election and received 0.28% of the national vote and 1.1% of the vote in NSW. The Party was instrumental in flowing preferences away from the Greens in NSW, Queensland and Victoria.[42]
Glenn Druery who was behind the2013 federal election preference deal successes with candidate elections on 0.2 and 0.5 percent was remunerated by the Shooters and Fishers Party for assisting in organising preference meetings and negotiating preference flows between parties.[26] The party has been involved in Druery's Minor Party Alliance.[27][28]
In May 2018, it was reported that SenatorBrian Burston ofOne Nation had attempted to defect to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party; he would have been the party's first federal representative.Robert Borsak, the party's leader in New South Wales, said that "I don't think he'd be a good representative for us [...] we're not that desperate for a Canberra representative at the moment and when we do, we'll use our own people."[43] However, Burston subsequently stated: "The claim that I have approached the Shooters Party is totally and absolutely false".[44]
At the2007 New South Wales state election, the Shooters Party received 2.8% of the primary vote for the Legislative Council (↑0.8%) and lead candidateRoy Smith was elected to the Legislative Council. On 30 July 2010, Smith died in his sleep andRobert Borsak was nominated by the party to fill the casual vacancy. As a result, the party holds 2 seats in the NSW Upper House. In 2009 an agreement was reached to allow hunters onto public lands in a deal with the government.[45]
At the2011 New South Wales state election, the Liberal/National Coalition took government but with three seats short of a majority in the upper house. The Shooters and Fishers Party held two seats along with theChristian Democratic Party, with thebalance of power shifting from the Greens to the two parties.[46] The Shooters and Fishers Party was reported to have created a "shopping list" of demands in exchange for legislative support of the now Liberal/National government, however the government "ruled out" any deals with the Shooters.[47]
In May 2012 the party negotiated a deal with the O'Farrell government giving recreational shooters access to national parks to cull feral animals including pigs, rabbits and deer by allowing the passage of laws through the NSW Upper House to sell the state-owned power generating assets ofEraring Energy,Delta Electricity andMacquarie Generation, that were claimed to yield up to A$3 billion.[48] Deals continue to have fallout.[49][50][51]
At thestate by-election for Orange on 12 November 2016, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidatePhilip Donato became the party's first lower house member, defeating the incumbentNational Party for the seat in the Legislative Assembly.[52]
In the2019 New South Wales state election, the party made breakthroughs inthe state's lower house, with candidatesRoy Butler andHelen Dalton winning the seats ofBarwon andMurray respectively.[19][20] On 3 March 2022, Dalton resigned from Shooters Fishers and Farmers due to disagreeing with the party's Legislative Council members not showing up to vote against a bill regarding water usage that she believed would "disadvantage communities and irrigators in the lower Darling and Murray river system".[53] On 12 December 2022, Butler and Donato resigned over the behaviour of leader Robert Borsak.[54]
The SFF Party has very little presence in theNorthern Territory, but a Northern Territory branch of the party does exist.
At the2016 general election, the party ran candidates in two rural seats:Katherine andNelson.
At the2016 federal election, the party contested both the remote seat ofLingiari and the metropolitan seat ofSolomon. The party preferenced theincumbent members for their respect seats behind the other major party on theirhow-to-vote cards, thus preferencing theCountry Liberal Party (CLP) ahead ofLabor in Lingiari[55] and Labor ahead of the CLP in Solomon,[56] and the parts preferenced theGreens last in both seats.
In the Northern Territory, the party's voter base absorbs a plurality of voters who vote forPauline Hanson's One Nation on the federal level, as One Nation does not contest Northern Territory general elections.[57]
At the2006 South Australian state election, two Shooters Party candidates for the Legislative Council, Robert Low and Michael Hudson,preferenced theFamily First Party as well as theOne Nation Party. The Shooters Party received just under 6,000 votes, or 0.6% of the electors, with a 0.08 quota. Neither candidate was elected. The party also contested the2010 (as Shooters) and2014 (as Shooters and Fishers) elections, increasing the number of votes in each but not enough to achieve a quota. It was deregistered before the 2018 election.[58]
At the2014 Victorian state election, two Shooters and Fishers candidates were elected to the Legislative Council:Jeff Bourman received 2.44% first preference votes in theEastern Victoria Region and was elected on preferences from the other minor parties, andDaniel Young received 3.5% first preference votes in theNorthern Victoria Region and was also elected on preferences. Bourman was re-elected in 2018, while Young was defeated.
Bourman was re-elected in 2022.
At the2013 Western Australian state election, Shooters and Fishers candidateRick Mazza was elected to the Legislative Council with 3.09% of the vote in theAgricultural Region.Nigel Hallett was elected for theLiberal Party inSouth West Region, but changed to the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers in June 2016.[59] Mazza retained his seat at the 2017 election, but Hallett did not. Mazza subsequently formed a 'conservative bloc' withOne Nation and theLiberal Democratic Party in the Legislative Council.[60]
At the2025 Tasmanian state election,Carlo Di Falco was elected as the seventh member for the electorate ofLyons in theTasmanian House of Assembly. Di Falco is the first member of the SFF to be elected into Tasmanian state parliament.[61]
The current Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party divisions are the following:
| Division | Leader | Legislative Assembly | Legislative Council | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (NSW) | Robert Borsak | 0 / 93 | 2 / 42 | Crossbench | |
| Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (Victoria) | Jeff Bourman | 0 / 88 | 1 / 40 | Crossbench | |
| Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (WA) | Rick Mazza | 0 / 59 | 0 / 36 | Extra-parliamentary | |
| Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (QLD) | 0 / 93 | None | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (Tasmania) | Wayne Turale[62] | 1 / 34 | 0 / 15 | Crossbench | |
| Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (ACT) | 0 / 25 | None | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| Shooters and Fishers Party (NT) | 0 / 25 | None | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| Election year | # of overall votes | % of overall vote | # of overall seats | +/– | Name of party (at time of poll) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 63,691 | 0.60 | 0 / 76 |  0 | Shooters Party |
| 1996 | 114,724 | 1.05 | 0 / 76 | 0 | Shooters Party |
| 1996 | 38,188 | 0.34 | 0 / 76 | 0 | Australian Shooters Party |
| 2007 | 84,148 | 0.66 | 0 / 76 | 0 | Australian Shooters Party (Vic, QLD, SA) Shooters /Fishing and Lifestyle (NSW) |
| 2010 | 214,119 | 1.68 | 0 / 76 | 0 | Shooters and Fishers |
| 2013 | 127,397 | 0.95 | 0 / 76 | 0 | Shooters and Fishers |
| 2016 | 192,965 | 1.39 | 0 / 76 | 0 | Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers |
| 2019 | 253,267 | 1.73 | 0 / 76 | 0 | Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers |
| 2022 | 147,737 | 0.98 | 0 / 76 | 0 | Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers |
| 2025 | 59,434 | 0.37 | 0 / 76 | 0 | Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers |
| Election year | Legislative Assembly | Legislative Council | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # votes | % votes | # seats | +/– | # votes | % votes | # seats | # overall seats | +/– | |
| 1995 | - | - | 0 / 99 | 0 | 95,943 | 2.84 | 1 / 21 | 1 / 42 |  1 |
| 1999 | - | - | 0 / 93 | 0 | 59,295 | 1.67 | 0 / 21 | 1 / 42 | 0 |
| 2003 | - | - | 0 / 93 | 0 | 76,133 | 2.05 | 1 / 21 | 1 / 42 | 0 |
| 2007 | - | - | 0 / 93 | 0 | 106,513 | 2.79 | 1 / 21 | 2 / 42 | 1 |
| 2011 | 2,346 | 0.06 | 0 / 93 | 0 | 150,741 | 3.70 | 1 / 21 | 2 / 42 | 0 |
| 2015 | - | - | 0 / 93 | 0 | 167,871 | 3.89 | 1 / 21 | 2 / 42 | 0 |
| 2019 | 157,636 | 3.46 | 3 / 93 | 3 | 246,477 | 5.54 | 1 / 21 | 2 / 42 | 0 |
| 2023 | 73,359 | 1.53 | 0 / 93 |  3 | 144,043 | 3.06 | 1 / 21 | 2 / 42 | 0 |
| Election year | Legislative Assembly | Legislative Council | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # votes | % votes | # seats | +/– | # votes | % votes | # seats | # overall seats | +/– | |
| 2014 | 2,622 | 0.08 | 0 / 88 | 0 | 56,536 | 1.65 | 2 / 40 | 2 / 40 | 2 |
| 2018 | 24,257 | 0.69 | 0 / 88 | 0 | 108,280 | 3.02 | 1 / 40 | 1 / 40 | 1 |
| 2022 | 11,590 | 0.32 | 0 / 88 | 0 | 76,742 | 2.05 | 1 / 40 | 1 / 40 | 1 |
| Election year | House of Assembly | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # votes | % votes | # seats | +/– | |
| 2018 | 7,640 | 2.88 | 0 / 25 | 0 |
| 2021 | 10,369 | 3.04 | 0 / 25 | 0 |
| 2024 | 8,126 | 2.33 | 0 / 35 | 0 |
| 2025 | 10,263 | 2.29 | 1 / 35 | 1 |
| Election year | Legislative Assembly | Legislative Council | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # votes | % votes | # seats | +/– | # votes | % votes | # seats | # overall seats | +/– | |
| 2013 | - | - | 0 / 59 | 0 | 21,765 | 1.78 | 1 / 36 | 1 / 36 | 1 |
| 2017 | 17,317 | 1.31 | 0 / 59 | 0 | 31,924 | 2.37 | 1 / 36 | 1 / 36 | 0 |
| 2021 | 9,669 | 0.69 | 0 / 59 | 0 | 21,210 | 1.47 | 0 / 36 | 0 / 36 | 1 |
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