Robert Borsak MLC
Robert Borsak - the son of a Polish tailor turned freedom fighter who escaped a Gestapo death camp - is a former art student. He put down the easel to study accountancy and marketing and became a very successful businessman as chairman of the Brooker Holdings Group, manufacturers of aluminium boats, trailers and scaffolding systems.
But the 57-year-old was forced to scale back his other business activities (11 companies he was associated with turned over $50 million a year) after being elected the Shooters and Fishers Party’s fourth MLC last year on the sudden death of his friend and colleague, Roy Smith, on July 31.
"Semi-retired" at the time, he was the only real choice, having worked closely with the world's first shooter MP, John Tingle, and Robert Brown, MLC, after joining the party in 1992. He was chairman of the party three years later when John Tingle was elected and is its major strategist. Prior to being elected, he also resigned as chairman of the groundbreaking Game Council of NSW that sets the standard for conservation hunting in Australia.
In his feisty inaugural speech to Parliament, he placed on record that Roy's work would continue, especially negotiating further sensible changes to the firearms legislation "that unreasonably restrict legitimate gun-owners, while doing nothing to enhance public safety. He is also the champion of young shooters."
The keenest of hunters, Robert has chased trophy game all over the world, yet revels in bird and small game shooting and fine rifle collecting. As a child, he spearfished; today he fishes for trout.
Married for 34 years to Cheryl, whom he met while Scouting, the proud Ashfield father of three grown children has two beautiful grand children.
"I hunt because I like to hunt; it is part of my genetic make-up," he told gob-smacked pollies in his speech. The House was filled to hear him speak and he made no bones about the effect of politics on him.
"Personally, I resent being viewed or treated by anyone as a criminal in waiting. It is plainly just not acceptable."
Recent articles
- The Big Two and the Greens do us over
- Protest reinforces how wrong the antis are
- NSW Government scorecard
- Restore balance to the land
- Boycott Fairfax Media
- Gun rights: Australia’s fight
- Time to re-think conservation, says Borsak
- Hunting and fishing rights must be guaranteed: Borsak
- ACT should let hunters in
- Investigation into sound moderators on firearms
- Facts about sound moderators
- Hunting in National Parks
- Important meeting: SFP in the NT
- Independent Assessment Panel recommendations
- No need for tighter gun laws
- New Land Services initiative welcomed
- Hatred and violence: Greens' selective rejection
- Hunting and the Greenwashing campaign
- Vale Dudley Nichol
Robert Brown MLC
Political representative
Robert Brown was elected to Parliament on the resignation of John Tingle MLC, on May 3, 2006.
As Brown noted in his inaugural speech, the Party is roughly evenly split between Labor and conservatives when it comes to voting in the Legislative Assembly. But, "All shooters have had a disproportionate measure of regulation and legislation shoved down their throats since the early 1990s. Most of it is bad legislation and over-regulation."
He has since been very active in the inner workings of the House via committees. Among others, he's a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety (Staysafe), and was elected chair of the vital Select Committee on Recreational Fishing in November 2009. Tables in December last year, the report recommends identifying land-based licensed and unlicensed discharges and pollution into marine protected areas and prioritising them for remedial action.
Robert Brown was a Member of the state committee of The Shooters Party from 1994-2004, becoming its chair between 2005 and 2007. He was branch President/State President of the Australian Deer Association (1995-1998); is a Member for Life, Drummoyne Sailing Club Inc.; life member of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW); member, Hills Hunting & Angling Club Inc.; ordinary member, Institute of Engineers Australia. Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Robert Brown is committed to working with the government of the day to improve matters related to firearms ownership and use and access for shooters and fishers.
“We will encourage the government to broaden the implementation of conservations through sustainable use – terrestrial and marine,” says Brown.
"For too long the fishers – like shooters before them – ignored the insidious advance of animal rights extremist ideology into the political spectrum. But no more."
Recent articles
Peter Johnson
Shooters and Fishers Representative
Peter Johnson has a long time commitment to the environment. He comes from a family of Dairy Farmers and Orchardists, and learnt to fish and hunt when he was able to do so safely, whilst regarding the sustainability of the resource was paramount.
Peter has a long history on representing anglers; he has been very active in fishing both recreationally and commercially. Peter was a Trap and Line Fisherman for several years out of Sydney, and was also a leading figure in amateur angling circles. He was elected to the committee, and later became President of the Sydney North Division of NSW Fishing Clubs Association for several years, and has been awarded Life Membership to this Association for his services in Angler Representations and protecting fishing access rights. He was elected State President of the NSW Fishing Clubs Association for two terms, and was also the NSWFCA representative on the consultative committees for NSW Fisheries on both the inaugural INTER-TIDAL PROTECTED AREAS, and the 2nd SALTWATER BAG AND SIZE LIMIT REVIEW, where Peter saw firsthand how Government disregards anglers and ties them up in bureaucratic tape and ignores the real issues. Make no mistake, Peter regards Accountability as a priority, and has publicly denounced NSW Fisheries Policy many times.
Through his 8 year stint as Club Captain of Warringah Anglers Club, Peter was instrumental in organising a petition, along with three other key members of this club, to obtain over 17,000 signatures and tabled them to Parliament, to decree a Moratorium on Marine Parks, only to be bitterly disappointed that the then Liberal / National Opposition chose not to follow the Moratorium up. This really motivated him to pursue a better way to get Anglers voices heard, so he joined the Shooters and Fishers Party to help with the fight. His own words, “ No other Political Party has ever been a friend of Anglers at Grass Roots level. Other so-called Fishing Parties preference the majors who have done us over time and again. Shooters and Fishers are our Party, our only friends in Politics “
Peter is proud to be a member of The Shooters and Fishers Party, as it was Robert Brown who moved in Parliament that the Moratorium be implemented. He now wants the angling community to see how effective the Shooters and Fishers Party is, and that there is no alternative vote on offer.
Whilst Peter doesn’t fish competitively nowadays, he still travels regularly with wife Linda, and fishes both Salt and Freshwater habitats, enjoying their freedom to do so. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Yellowbelly or a Spanish Mackeral, or his favourite, Snapper, Peter wants to protect the access for all to engage in this healthy pursuit. He still does regular radio appearances on 2SM’s HI-Tide fishing and boating program, and is in demand as a guest speaker at fishing club functions.
It’s also a poorly kept secret that Peter is a pretty keen Hunter too, who loves to hunt feral pigs and goats when the fish aren’t biting.
He earns his living in the field of Logistics, where he is NSW Fleet and Compliance Manager for Australia’s largest freight carrier. He is well versed in large scale business applications, has a good acumen for profitability and accountability, and is highly regarded in the industry by his peers.
Recent articles
Jim Muirhead
Hunting and fishing representative
Number two on Shooters and Fishers ticket, Jim Muirhead calls himself a 50 per cent shooter; "I shoot 50 per cent of the time."
He's a shotgun, rifle and pistol man, target shooter and budding deerstalker. Married, 46, and living on 25 acres at Finley, just north of the NSW border town of Tocumwal, the plant operator started shooting as a kid, mentored by an uncle, a professional rabbit trapper.
"My problem is I've got too many hobbies," he said. "I'm a muay-thai instructor (kick-boxer), member of pistol and hunting clubs. I shoot F&G, SSAA comps and go on retrieving trials. I'm a keen photographer, I fish for cod and redfin near home and ride my wife Viv's horses."
The Howard ascendancy got him worked up into active gun politics. "I was over it when Howard took my guns – a Remington 1187 Premier semi-auto shotgun and a semi-auto .22 Sterling. The police took them to Shepparton and I watched them get squashed. That really hurt."
"From my involvement with local clubs, I joined a district branch of the Shooters Party and started going to state conferences. I've been to seven so far. I put up my hand when the party asked me to be No 2. I felt they needed someone from the country, an ordinary bloke like me."
"I was one of the organisers against the river red gum environment alliance, trying to stop the extreme Greens and the government from excluding hunters and fishers from these areas. Now it's a national park. I believe in sustainable anything... like timber harvesting, fishing and hunting."
"My aim is to fight for access to our national parks. Let's utilise them and not have them locked up and burnt every few years. We must be able to use our country. It's ours, end of story. City bureaucrats have no idea how country people live and we want to control our own destiny and not be dictated to by people with no idea at all."
