In her letter Senator Nash demonstrates both her ignorance of national parks and of the farming community.
In a desperate attempt to defend the indefensible, Nash claims that the decision to allow hunting in our national parks by members of the Game Council is good for farmers and national parks alike. Clearly she is unaware just how many farmers refuse to allow hunters onto their lands for the dangers they pose and the damage they do and clearly she is not aware just how their actions merely spread the problem of feral animals.
The Game Council defines feral animals as a sustainable resource and their brief is not eradication of a pest species but the management of an animal for sport hunting. This decision by the O’Farrell Government will just make the problem of feral animals even worse. This decision poses grave dangers to well considered Regional Pest Management Strategies that have been put in place by OEH staff over the past few years.
In addition, Nash peddles an old cliché that national parks are “locked up”. This is rhetoric that is outdated, tired and illogical. National Parks are the lands least locked of all lands in this country. Members of the public can visit at any time. Mind you, under the O’Farrell sell-off to the Shooters and Fishers Party, they will be locked up for periods of time so that the hunters can shoot away and distribute pests across the country, into neighbouring farms and beyond.
Brian Everingham
Convenor
Reserves Committee
National Parks Association of NSW
Engadine
