The ACT government looks unlikely to allow hunting for recreation in our national parks.
The Game Council will be abolished. Photo: Greg Newington
 
Amateur hunting in NSW forests will be suspended until at least October following the damning findings of a review into the Game Council of NSW.
As a result of the review, by retired public servant Steve Dunn, the Game Council of NSW will be abolished and responsibility for licensing of amateur hunters transferred to the Department of Primary Industries, the state government announced on Thursday. 
The concerns raised in the review have led the government to announce the suspension of all amateur hunting in state forests until governance issues identified within the council are resolved.
In a simultaneous announcement, Environment Minister Robyn Parker revealed the introduction of amateur hunting to national parks will proceed in October, but on a trial basis in 12 parks.
Pending the results, hunting may be rolled out in up to 75 parks and reserves as previously announced by the government under a deal with the Shooters and Fishers Party.
Ms Parker said the rules for shooting in national parks would be significantly different to those in place for state forests.
Shooters would be closely supervised by National Parks and Wildlife staff in all areas where shooting takes place, which will be closed to visitors for the duration. Shooting will not take place during school holidays.
Additionally, no one under 18 would be allowed to participate, and use of bows or black powder muskets would be prohibited.
The Dunn report, released on Thursday, slams governance the Game Council, which it says is ‘‘deeply embedded in politics’’.
In a scathing assessment, Mr Dunn says public safety ‘‘does not receive a high level of attention’’ in planning documents prepared by the organisation, which is responsible for overseeing licensing of amateur shooters in NSW.
He says the council has been unable to resolve the ‘‘inherent conflict of interest’’ between representing the interests of hunters and regulating their activities in NSW.
The report says the council has ‘‘achieved significant results’’ since its establishment in 2002. But they have been achieved ‘‘at the taking of governance risks not normally associated with government bodies.’’
It concludes: ‘‘Allowing the Game Council to continue on its current path is not an option.’’
The review was ordered by Mr O’Farrell in March after an investigation found alleged illegal hunting by two Game Council senior employees on a property in outback NSW.
In January Fairfax Media revealed police were investigating Andy Mallen and Greg McFarland over claims they crossed a national park and onto private property in a council vehicle and killed a goat.
The pair was suspended by the Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson.
Mr Mallen, a game manager with the council, was later cleared of wrongdoing and reinstated after supplying proof to police that he was in Sydney at the time of the alleged incident.
But Mr McFarland, who was the council’s communications manager and acting chief executive, was the subject of continuing investigations.
The IAB report also identified ‘‘possible breaches of Game Council policies and procedures, information which raises questions about governance procedures within the Game Council’’.
Sensitivity over the allegations were heightened by the decision by Mr O’Farrell to open NSW national parks to amateur hunting.
The decision was part of a deal between the government and the Shooters and Fishers Party, which holds the balance of power in the upper house, over passage of electricity privatisation legislation.
Mr Dunn’s report notes that the Game Council was established in 2002 because of the ‘‘influence and power’’ of the Shooter and Fishers Party. He says this power has resulted in the creation of an organisation lacking in accountability.
Shooters and Fishers Party MP Robert Brown is a former Game Council chairman.
More than a decade after the Game Council was established, a strategic plan has yet to be finalised and made public, Mr Dunn notes.
His report recommends the 18-member Game Council be replaced by a NSW Game Board of not more than eight members.
It would be subject to control of the department and be responsible for representing the interests of hunters, promoting feral animal control and providing policy advice to government.
However, licensing, education and law enforcement functions - currently the chief role of the Game Council - would be handed to a government department, along with policy and legislation functions.
Reaction is being sought from Game Council chief executive Brian Boyle and the Shooters and Fishers Party.