Volunteer hunters are the true conservationists

In any case, the implication that hunting by volunteers somehow excludes baiting and the use of professional shooters is false; experts in feral animal control acknowledge that an integrated strategy involving multiple methodologies achieves the best results. But with so many national parks in which feral animals are a problem, intensive campaigns favoured by those who oppose volunteer hunting are simply not affordable.

Much of the opposition to hunting in national parks is based either on aversion to firearms or an assumption that their presence represents a danger to others in the park. Legal academic Desmond Manderson wrote recently, "I have a five year old child and I find the idea of guns in her vicinity grossly offensive".

While this implies a fear of firearms, it confirms a fondness for authority. There are 15,000 police officers in NSW who each carry a 40 calibre Glock handgun, plus an even greater number of armed private security guards, yet nobody suggests they are an accident waiting to happen. Perhaps if hunters were to wear uniforms, such concerns would evaporate.

Some critics describe volunteer hunters in disparaging terms, such as "gun-toting amateurs wanting to go on yippee-shoots" and "red-necks", and suggest hunters will inevitably mistake someone for a feral animal.

This shows ignorance of the reality of hunting and hunters. While nobody can totally rule out the possibility of accidents, hunters are no more likely to mistake a fox or pig for a human being than a police officer is to mistakenly shoot a bystander for a bank robber. Almost all hunting is undertaken with rifles equipped with telescopic sights, and shots rarely extend beyond a couple of hundred metres, meaning the target is clearly identified. Moreover, hunting is by no means a cheap activity. Those so-called red-necks are predominantly prosperous tradesmen and women or professionals.

Hunting in national parks is well established in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and NT, as well as New Zealand and other countries, with accidents few and far between despite far less regulation than in NSW. None of the predicted effects on tourism or other calamities has been observed either.

While the NSW government intends to segregate hunters from other park users, this does not generally occur elsewhere and is really not necessary. Most national parks are huge and there is plenty of room for everyone.

Objectively, the only complaint with validity is that firearms are noisy and might disturb the activities of bushwalkers, picnickers and bird watchers in the general area. That could be rectified with the use of silencers, as used in many countries (including New Zealand) where they are viewed as a sign of consideration for others. Unfortunately, silencers are strictly prohibited in all Australian states.

Some argue that recreational hunting has minimal overall impact on feral animal populations, even spreading ferals more broadly and worsening their impact. It is even claimed that hunters deliberately release animals in order to increase hunting opportunities.

In fact there are plenty of examples of volunteer hunters making a significant contribution to feral animal control. One of the most well-known is Operation Bounceback, in South Australia's Flinders Ranges, which has seen the restoration of many degraded ecosystems with one of the program's most important achievements being to stabilise populations of the endangered Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby after the shooting of foxes, feral cats and feral goats.

It was disclosed in parliament last year that a total of 457 wild dogs had been shot by volunteer hunters in State forests during the period of March 2006 to September 2012, during which no contractors were hired by Forests NSW to remove wild dogs. Forests NSW also estimated that if commercial rates were applied to the removal of the 18,485 feral and game animals from its estate that were killed by volunteer hunters in 2011, the cost would have amounted to a total of $2.4 million.

Victoria's sheep producers are in no doubt that the State's policy of paying a bounty on foxes contributes to lamb survival. The only problem with the scheme is that NSW does not have one, resulting in some foxes crossing the border after they have been shot.