HuntFest organisers always intended on having a full-on arms fair in Narooma with the sale of guns and ammunition, as in HuntFests in USA. 

They were advised they’d get approval from council easier if they modified their initial event application. 

What a well-advised con to all who live here!

Check out the HuntFest Facebook site everyone. 

See what this group really stands for.

If they get the approval to sell guns, what will their next goal be?

MP Robert  Brown says the national park hunting issue will see their vote go through the roof at the next election.

Who is supporting the growth of arms fairs in Australia and why? 

There were two new ones this year in NSW?

There is one every three months in Penrith at Panthers Club - ironically, the region with the greatest gun crime in Australia.

Narooma is the only NSW small coastal town with an arms fair.

What effect will it have on our community if it becomes “hunters holiday resort”?

Five-hundred-and-seventy-eight weapons were stolen in the past year in NSW, about 80 per cent from homes, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics.

Our shires could soon amalgamate - do you want this? 

You will be cranky with yourself if you don’t get the result you want and you didn’t “get around to” doing anything. 

When writing a submission, make sure you refer specifically to the sale of guns and ammunition. There is no provision to protest HuntFest itself.

Kathie Thackray

Narooma

Eurobodalla councillor Gabi Harding’s amendment to allow some public consultation on the latest addition to the annual festival of hunting (HuntFest) was narrowly passed by the Eurobodalla Shire Council.  

The hunters’ original motion, if passed without amendment, would have allowed the sale of weapons and ammunition and a portable air rifle range to be added to the events at the 2015 festival of hunting in a public building in the main street of Narooma.  

Huntfest opponents need to rally all the support they can, both within and outside the shire, for a proposal that is after all the very essence of an event that was initially disguised as a photographic competition, but in reality is all about selling guns and killing animals for fun.

The whole ugly and divisive issue could have been resolved at the outset if the community had been   informed and consulted in the democratic manner Australians expect from their local elected body.

Transparency   and accountability have been woefully neglected, along with a commitment to build strong communities, but residents must take this crumb of consultation as it is given to us and flood the council building in Moruya with submissions, in the hope that they will be given special consideration.  

Submissions opposing the sale of guns and a shooting range at HuntFest, including the sender’s name and address, should be sent to the council before October 8. 

Email submissions can be made to council@eurocoast.nsw.gov.au; postal submissions to The General Manager, PO Box 99, Moruya 2537.

Susan Cruttenden

Dalmeny