Senator David Leyonhjelm has announced that the future of the shooting sports in Sydney is assured for at least another half-century after the NSW Rifle Association signed a 50-year lease of the Anzac Rifle Range at Malabar earlier this week.
The Liberal Democrats Senator for NSW – who has been an outspoken supporter of private firearms ownership and recreational shooting activities – said in his May 3 press release that he had made the Anzac Rifle Range a priority since becoming a Senator in 2014 and had used it as a “bargaining chip with the government on key pieces of legislation”.
Senator Leyonhjelm said the signing of the lease brings to an end 20 years of legal action and uncertainty over the Malabar range, which has wasted public money, stalled local planning and forced shooters not to upgrade their facilities. “This has the potential to benefit around 55,000 sporting shooters who live in the Sydney Basin,” he said. “We now have a fantastic opportunity to upgrade to world-class facilities, which would bring thousands of visitors to Sydney every year.”
The Senator also said he was proud of his record of representing shooters in the Federal Parliament, pointing to restoring regular meetings between shooters representatives and the Justice Minister, as well as “forcing the government to re-think its illogical stance on restricting the lever-action Adler shotgun”.