Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House our strong opposition to recreational hunting and the proliferation of firearms. We do not support the use of guns for the lethal control of animals. The shooting of animals is neither an effective nor ethical means of managing introduced species and the recent push to open up public land for recreational hunting is informed more by gun-toting ideology than environmental conservation. State forests are homes, not shooting ranges. Gifting state forests to recreational shooters will cause untold damage as amateurs trample through vegetation with little to no government oversight. We are also concerned by the societal impact of an increased number of guns in Queensland homes. Australia has tight gun laws because Australians deplore gun violence. Finally, no animal deserves to be killed and especially not for the purpose of violent ‘recreation’.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to reject all requests to open up our precious state forests to recreational shooters and furthermore request that more be done to maintain and toughen up our world-leading gun laws.