Barry's Folly - an open letter

Dear Barry,

Your deal with the Shooters' Party re the electricity sell-off absolutely stinks.

Of course there will be safeguards in place to prevent shooters in National Parks from killing people. Exactly. There are safeguards in place preventing people from driving whilst drunk or using mobile phones. and we all know how rare it is for the courts to see drunk drivers in front of them...

The two New Zealand deaths should have served as a warning to you as to what can happen when targets are mis-identified. At least with the current situation, professional shooters can be expected to be able to identify targets much more accurately than a bunch of rank amateurs who are never intoxicated whilst pig-shooting.

On tonight's 7:30 programme on the ABC your response was that many 4-wheel-drivers and timber-getters currently co-exist with shooters in areas surrounding national parks. Be aware that the two deaths in New Zealand were simply pedestrians. If you're in a 4WD or have a chainsaw then you're probably NOT a feral animal and even the most basic of shooters can figure that out. Get into the National Park and there are no 4WDs or chainsaws, making target identification a lot more difficult. And when the shooters are a bunch of drunken yobbos in the back of a 4WD with a spotlight in the night (probably also talking on their mobile phones), what faith do your realistically place in their abilities to identify targets correctly 100% of the time?

You're a smart man, Barry, but this action is dumb. I think it should be up to you to tell the first victim's relatives of their death when they've been mistaken for a wild dog in a National Park and been shot.

And what's with your environment minister Robyn Parker? Is she so heartless that when asked about the two New Zealand deaths she completely IGNORES the point and keeps spouting her line? And she fails to even answer the question whether she was aware of the deaths or not? Her actions on this, and (yes, I remember) the fertiliser plant on Kooragang Island indicate she's basically, how can I say this without being insulting, a thickhead? (Yes, a thickhead is the least insulting term I can come up with). Although my private theory is that she's going to be your sacrificial lamb this parliament - get through a few unpopular changes and then get rid of her. Well I endorse the latter action at least. Do it now and save us all the grief.

But Barry, please consider. You are desperate to sell off the power stations I know, but with the sort of majority you got at the last election do you want to at least want to keep enough political capital to maintain three terms? The way it's going that's not likely to happen.

Regards,
-Peter Deane