Tuesday, 4 March 2025

 Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (13:42): It gives me great pleasure to rise and speak about attending the 2025 Parliamentarians Range Day hosted by the Victorian division of the Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia. It was a pleasure to attend along with my staff at SSAA Victoria’s Eagle Park Range, set at the foot of the beautiful You Yangs mountain peak on the outskirts of Little River. I was joined by my colleagues Ms Bath, Mr Bourman and Ms Watt outside the confines of this place to learn more about the work SSAA Victoria does in promoting shooting as a recreational sport and advocating on behalf of its over 40,000 members. SSAA Victoria is the largest shooting body representing Victoria’s licensed firearm owners and is dedicated to promoting all aspects of responsible gun ownership as well as ethical hunting practices and game and fauna conservation. After a thorough safety briefing we were divided into small groups, where we had the opportunity to shoot shotguns, rifles and pistols, all under the instruction and supervision of highly qualified firearm instructors. With very little experience handling guns of any type, I must admit my favourite was the shotgun, and I managed to hit a few clay targets. I would like to thank SSAA Victoria’s Barry Howlett and his team for the invitation and kind hospitality. I am looking forward to returning next year.