VFF weighs in on threat to gun club

Alex de Vos
Victoria’s leading farmer has urged State Government to dump its plan to kick Winchelsea Gun Club off its land.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Simon Ramsey, of Birregurra, said gun clubs were essential to regional communities.
“They (gun clubs) play an important role in the education and safety of firearms,” Mr Ramsey said.
“Gun clubs also do a lot of work on farm land in helping reduce vermin. It’s a very important tool, belonging to a gun club.”
The Independent revealed last week that State Government had secretly ordered Surf Coast Shire to boot the shooters and the town’s go-kart club off Winchelsea Common.
In a letter leaked to the paper, Department of Sustainability and Environment public land use and development manager Craig Whiteford said council “must” advise the gun club to “cease its activities immediately”.
But Mr Whiteford denied State Government was behind the purge when contacted by the Independent.
He blamed the shire for the pending evictions.
Mr Whiteford refused to reveal why the Government wanted the clubs removed from the site.
Surf Coast Shire mayor Dean Webster emailed a statement to the Independent this week saying council had yet to “adopt a formal position on the matter”.
“Informally, there is general support for working with the club to pursue options for its future,” Cr Webster said.
State Government owned the land but the shire managed a “parcel” of the site, he said.
Winchelsea councillor Lind-say Schroeter said the threat to the gun club had sparked “discontent” in the town.
“The club has been there since 1954 and does a lot of work to support local charities,” he said.