AN UN-AUSTRALIAN ABUSE OF 'RIGHTS'

The following call to arms against the organisers of Narooma's HuntFest, entitled "Stong opposition", was published in the Letters section of the Bega District News - May 21st edition:

"Will the legislation to allow amateur hunting in national parks be revoked by the NSW Government as a result of strong opposition from the majority of voters, and will Narooma’s Huntfest be cancelled as a consequence of this decision?

"One can only hope so for the sake of the town’s reputation, the safety of children and adults, and the continued use of national parks as sanctuaries for wildlife.

"A Huntfest with no guns (at least for the first year), and nowhere to hunt in a beautiful environment like the South Coast will be as ludicrous as a Pub With No Beer in Mt Isa.

"Maybe the Huntfesters will abandon their schemes to encourage killing and simply embark on the tourist promotion aspect of their agenda, even though that is a function more than adequately performed by the nearby tourist bureau.

In the words spoken at the Bega rally, “throw away the gun and have a lot more fun” (BDN 19/3). 

"Do you want to protect our wildlife and keep national parks for safe recreation?

"Are you opposed to teaching children to kill?

"Express your pro-life feelings with a poster on the fence opposite the Narooma Sports and Leisure Centre."

Susan Cruttenden
Dalmeny

-ends-

The first thing that hit me about Ms Cruttenden’s letter was the claim that hunting in national parks enjoys the “strong opposition of the majority of voters.” If this can be established from the dismal turnout anti-hunting rallies have enjoyed across the state, one can only hope that it cuts both ways.

Take for instance the most highly publicised of these rallies, the one in Sydney on April 18th 2013. Attended by 2000 people, by the most generous estimates, it hardly equates to “strong support” by a “majority of voters”, given Sydney’s population of 6 million plus souls.

The Bega version drew between 150 and 200 people, most of them identified by one local as “the usual suspects”. Few people joined the rally off the street, but rather the crowd read as a who’s who of eco-activism in the Bega Valley. But even had they been new converts to the cause, given that the rally was preceded by a huge media and communications campaign aimed at rallying troops from far and wide, 200 was hardly an indication of majority opposition as was subsequently claimed.

It could be claimed with equal vigour and credibility that getting 200 people along to a rally in a major rural centre with a total population of 31,000, demonstrates that 30,880 people didn’t care at all, one way or the other. But I like the rally organisers’ stance much better, because it means that all hunters need do is gather 201 people in the main street for a walk to the local member’s office, and by the anti-hunters’ own model of community consultation we have established clear majority support.

Satire aside, the activities of Ms Cruttenden and her supporters have taken on an increasingly irresponsible and malicseous tone in recent months, and I beleive this should be cause for concern in the community at large.

My response (below), submitted to the Bega District News on Wednesday, May 22nd, includes a number of important points and seldom considered consequences of so-called “community action”. Moreover, I believe it exposes recent activity on the far south coast for what it really is; in every respect, worthy of the term un-Australian.

For example, inciting people to hang signs on fences expressing opposition to Huntfest is a very clever little stratagem aimed at obfuscating responsibility for the messages that will doubtless appear. I can hear the cries of self-righteous outrage now -

“What offensive sign? It’s nothing to do with us! We didn’t hang it there, so it’s not our responsibility to remove it!! It’s not our fault,  people feel that way!!!” 

Ah, but it is your fault, if you fuel the furnace of hate with messages of intolerance specifically geared to incite fear and loathing in your community. 

Anyway, for what it's worth, this is my response.

I'll get outaya way now... 

THE ABUSE OF RIGHTS

The Oxford dictionary defines ‘bullying’ as a verb meaning to use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force them to do something.

We condemn it and campaign against it in our schools. We encourage a position of zero tolerance! Yet when it is deployed as a weapon against an initiative we don’t approve of, as if by magic, bullying becomes noble.

There was a time when demonstrating one’s opposition to an event, business or initiative, was a matter of not supporting it with one’s patronage. Today’, however, the very people who preach the message of tolerance with respect to so many controversial cultures and practices, are not satisfied with anything less than the utter destruction of community events they don’t approve of.

HuntFest is not the initiative of some government department or big, faceless multinational. It is the initiative of a local non-profit community organisation whose members seek to celebrate their love of hunting. The men and women who make-up this organisation have contributed to their community responsibly and productively for many years. As anyone who has ever organised an event in a country town will appreciate, the money invested in HuntFest will have come from a range of fundraising activities requiring hard work, and a not insignificant amount of money will doubtless have come out of the organisers’ own pockets.

I was not surprised to read Ms Cruttenden’s call to express pro-life feelings on posters hung on a fence opposite the HuntFest site (BDN May 21) in the days leading up to the event.  Readers may recall that my family awoke the day before a no-hunting in national parks protest in Bega to find just such a pro-life “love note” hung on our front fence.

The sign hung on the front fence of the author's home, just 5 metres from a school-bus stop, the day before the Bega "No hunting in National Parks" rally, March 2013

When my partner approached a high-profile member of The Greens on the day of the protest, asking if, on principle, he’d publically condemn the act of hanging this offensive sign on our front fence, his response was, “No, why should I? I didn’t do it!”  And now, coincidentally, there is a call to arms, encouraging people to repeat the sign-hanging strategy in Narooma.  Well fancy that!

HuntFest’s opponents claim their opposition is justified because of their perception that it represents a threat to the amenity of Narooma and public wellbeing. If harbouring such perceptions is in itself sufficient justification for destroying an event and the club organising it, where do we draw the line?

There is a ‘perception’ in some quarters, that Candelo is populated exclusively by ‘hippies’. Now as everyone knows (?) ‘hippies’ are drug addicts and pushers, so clearly the Candelo Village Festival must have some underlying and malignant raison d’etre. Drugs are a threat to the wellbeing of our children and our community, so perhaps we should hang posters at the Princes Hwy turn-off come festival time – “Hippies go home” or “This way to pushers’ festival”.

What’s that you say…it’s a ludicrous and offensive suggestion? Yes, isn’t it!

Yet this is the strategy encouraged by HuntFest’s opponents, based on nothing more than their hatred of hunting and their perceptions of the threat it poses to the community.

If you don’t like the hunting culture, hunters or their activities, deny them your company and your patronage. That is your right.  Seeking to destroy a non-profit community organisation and its event, simply because of your perceptions and prejudices, is not!

The Bega Valley says no to violence. Let’s say no to cultural intolerance and acts of sabotage too.

Garry Mallard

Disclosure statement:
The author will not be attending HuntFest. He is not a member of the South Coast Hunters’ Club, nor is he a member of the HuntFest organising or management committees. He will reap no pecuniary benefit from the event’s success, nor will he be impoverished should it fail. He has, in fact, no stake in HuntFest at all.

However, the author does have a 50+ year stake in opposing the corruption of the community spirit and the sense of fair-play that drew him to the region as a child, and resulted in his decision to make it his home.