The Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) has condemned false, misrepresented, and inaccurate data presented by the Australia Institute in their latest research paper: The Hole In Australia’s Gun Laws.
The latest in the think tank’s anti-shooting rhetoric has highlighted the battle legal shooters and lawful shooting business operators face.
“This misinformation has a real impact on the lives of people conducting legal shooting for recreation, sport and primary production,” SIFA Chief Executive Officer James Walsh said.
“Our industry partners support close to a million legal shooters across the country through their businesses each year, with rigorous reporting requirements for all involved.”
The Australia Institute paper references data from AusPlay, a large-scale national survey led by the Australian Sports Commission to help track sports participation and inform funding decisions.
When SIFA contacted AusPlay to clarify how their data regarding field and range-based shooting was collected, the organisation confirmed that it relied on respondents self-identifying their participation.
“Shooting data depends on individuals recognising and recalling their involvement as a form of physical activity or sport,” a spokesperson told SIFA.
In New South Wales, where data regarding the number of licensed shooters was pulled by the Australia Institute, shooting bodies, and individual license holders must register every sports shooting attendance and hunting activity on public land with the relevant authorities.
“The data is there if people want to report on it in good faith. If someone unfamiliar with the community genuinely wants the information, they need only ask,” Mr Walsh said.
“It took SIFA less than a minute to find New South Wales state government reporting on recreational shooters, including licensed hunters and sports shooters.”
In NSW, 25,689 licensed hunters (licensed R and G) were issued more than 68,400 permits to hunt in NSW state forests in 2024-25, almost double the numbers reported by The Australia Institute. This does not include private land hunts, which are not included in government data.
In case the incorrect data was not damning enough, the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia’s (SSAA) Tom Kenyon confirmed the group was not contacted to help correct the data, or to confirm the rigorous requirements legal shooters complete each year.
“They (The Australia Institute) could have contacted the various state institutions that hold the data. We all have our own clubs. We know members are turning up and fulfilling their obligations,” he told SIFA.
“We know, for instance, for the SSAA alone, we had 238,000 attendances at our New South Wales ranges last year.”
This does not include range attendances recorded by other operators.
The shooting industry stands united against false reporting and supports the lawful activity of our industry to utilise shooting effectively and safely for sport, recreation and pest control across the country.
“This so-called report from The Australia Institute is an insult to the lawful businesses and sporting shooters who must comply with stringent conditions to maintain their licenses.” Mr Walsh said.
“As the peak body for the shooting industry, SIFA calls on the research group to retract this false report, based on data that is not used for compliance, but as a recreational survey, and to apologise to the shooting community.”
For further information, please contact:
James Walsh, CEO
Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia
M: 0419 933 066
E: [email protected]