SFP stupidity causes Deer Association to recommend below the line voting in Victoria

Shooters and fishermen are by nature sensible, pragmatic, active people who brave the elements and government regulation in order to pursue their sport.  Both have to be so; they could come to grief quickly from any miscalculation or inattention. 

In order to protect what rights they have left, they have formed the Shooters and Fishers Party to try to develop some political clout.

Unfortunately, unlike the membership, this party seems to be run by a mob of tossers who through either crass stupidity, or deliberate bloody mindedness have developed a long history of favouring anti-gun parties over more shooting friendly ones.

As recently as the Western Australian senate rerun, they passed their preferences to HEMP, which has no affinity with shooters, then on to Palmer, whose candidate they were instrumental in electing.  (See count 31 and 35)  Palmer detests guns and has refused to work with Bob Katter because of that. 

Despite this, in the current Victorian election, SFP have given their first preference to PUP in three regions including two where shooters have a large presence.  In one of these, (Northern) the lead Palmer candidate previously stood as a Green. 

The concern that shooting enthusiasts may inadvertently elect supporters of gun control has caused the Australian Deer Association to advocate voting below the line.  Under Victorian electoral rules voters only have to vote for five candidates below the line: 

The how-to-vote cards demonstrate that the preferences of political parties do not necessarily reflect their policies and values. In fact, it appears that, in most cases, if they do so it is more by accident than by design. 

There are four parties which are pro- hunting and shooting contesting the elections this year: Australian Country AllianceThe Liberal DemocratsThe Nationals; andThe Shooters and Fishers Party. … 

The Shooters and Fishers Party, for example, have given their first preference in Eastern Victoria, Northern Victoria (the two regions where a party which supporters hunters and shooters and other users of public land have the best chance of being elected) and Western Victoria to the Palmer United Party. 

As we have highlighted elsewhere in this newsletter, Clive Palmer is 'anti-gun' and the Palmer Party’s main candidate in Northern Victoria was the Greens’ main Northern Victoria candidate in the 2010 state elections.  The Party’s second candidate ran as an independent in the 2004 federal election on an anti-logging platform. … 

The Liberal Democrats have given their first two preferences in Eastern Victoria to the Shooters and Fishers and Australian Country Alliance, their first preference to Country Alliance in Northern Victoria and their third in Western Victoria and their first preference to Shooters and Fishers in Western Victoria and their third in Northern Victoria. … 

… Unlike voting for the Senate in Federal elections, it is easy to vote below-the-line in the Victorian Upper House elections. All you need to do is mark at least the squares of five candidates with the numbers 1 to 5. After that you may fill in as many squares as you like with consecutive numbers. …

Follow the link to see recommendations on how to maximize the shooter friendly vote by going below the line, its simple and eliminates the danger of electing gun grabbers by mistake.

It is a shame that other shooting orientated organizations like the SSAA do not have the wit or foresight to come up with or support such ideas, but continue to blindly vote the SFP ticket in the mistaken belief that they are protecting the interests of their members.

An alternative to the advice above is to vote for the Liberal Democrats.  We have placed all shooter friendly parties above the majors, including the SFP in two regions but were duded by them on the agreement.  The Liberal Democrats have an excellent raft of shooter friendly policies, and have placed Palmer down at the bottom of the ticket with the Greens across the board.