{"id":550451,"date":"2026-03-19T11:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550451\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:33:09","slug":"australia-institute-digs-itself-into-a-hole-with-false-data-sifa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/550451\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia Institute digs itself into a hole with false data | SIFA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) has condemned false, misrepresented, and inaccurate data presented by the Australia Institute in their latest research paper:\u00a0The Hole In Australia\u2019s Gun Laws<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest in the think tank\u2019s anti-shooting rhetoric has highlighted the battle legal shooters and lawful shooting business operators face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis misinformation has a real impact on the lives of people conducting legal shooting for recreation, sport and primary production,\u201d SIFA Chief Executive Officer James Walsh said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur industry partners support\u00a0close to\u00a0a\u00a0million legal shooters across\u00a0the country\u00a0through their businesses each year, with rigorous reporting requirements for all involved.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Australia Institute paper references data from\u00a0AusPlay, a large-scale national survey led by the Australian Sports Commission to help track sports participation and inform funding decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When SIFA contacted\u00a0AusPlay\u00a0to clarify how their data\u00a0regarding\u00a0field and range-based shooting was collected, the\u00a0organisation\u00a0confirmed that it relied on respondents self-identifying\u00a0their participation.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShooting data depends on individuals\u00a0recognising\u00a0and recalling their involvement as a form of physical activity or sport,\u201d a spokesperson told SIFA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In New South Wales, where data\u00a0regarding\u00a0the number of licensed shooters was pulled by the Australia Institute, shooting bodies, and individual license holders must register every sports shooting attendance\u00a0and hunting activity on public land\u00a0with the relevant authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data is there if people want to\u00a0report on\u00a0it in good faith. If someone unfamiliar with the community genuinely wants the information, they need only ask,\u201d\u00a0Mr\u00a0Walsh said.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took SIFA less than a minute to find New South Wales state\u00a0government reporting<\/a>\u00a0on recreational shooters, including licensed hunters and sports shooters.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In case the incorrect data was not damning enough, the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia\u2019s (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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (The Australia Institute) could have contacted the various state institutions that hold the data. We all have our own clubs. We\u00a0know members are turning up and fulfilling their obligations,\u201d he told SIFA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know, for instance, for the SSAA alone, we had 238,000 attendances at our New South Wales ranges last year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This does not include\u00a0range\u00a0attendances recorded by other\u00a0operators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The shooting industry stands united against false reporting and supports the lawful activity of our industry to\u00a0utilise\u00a0shooting effectively and safely for sport,\u00a0recreation\u00a0and pest control across the country.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis so-called report from The Australia Institute is an insult to the\u00a0lawful\u00a0businesses\u00a0and sporting\u00a0shooters who\u00a0must comply with stringent\u00a0conditions to maintain their\u00a0licenses.\u201d\u00a0Mr\u00a0Walsh said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 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\u00a0apologise\u00a0to the shooting community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For further information, please contact:<\/p>\n

James Walsh, CEO
Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia
M: 0419 933 066
E: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) has condemned false, misrepresented, and inaccurate data presented by the Australia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-550451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}