Hazard to human health

Map of Tasmania ... Drama at Kingston Beach Golf Club ... Golfers play through as silk stuck in the rough ... Complaint to club president ... Native hen cull ... Earlier correspondence from Malthouse tax guru unearthed

To hand is a bulletin from Van Diemen's Land revealing that the state government has allowed the Llanherne Golf Club to shoot half-a-dozen native hens in the hope of scaring away the rest.

The rotten fowl are fouling the course and causing inconvenience to golfers.

Wildlife enthusiasts are outraged but a local resident was quoted in the Daily Rupert saying:

"Wait until they invade your place, and start their deafening honking noise at four in the morning. See then if they are so nice."

Malthouse Chambers silk Andrew Abbott is bound to be watching these developments with interest.

It was our solemn duty last September to report that the Tasmanian police had knocked back Abbo's application for an exemption under the Firearms Act so that he could shoot wood duck, native hen, sulphur crested cockatoos and bush possums as he drives his Porsche Cayenne around the Kingston Beach Golf Course.

They are all in "plague proportions never before seen".

At the instigation of the club the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water & Environment had issued Abbott with a permit to shoot, but the cops would not grant him the necessary authority on grounds of public safety.

Last we heard he was to seek judicial review of that "ludicrous and very strongly offensive" refusal.

He told the coppers that the refusal is a "calculated deliberate attack on private rights" and that the course is likely to become unplayable because of the havoc caused by wild animals, "with insolvency the likely result".

The important fresh development in this richly textured story is that we have unearthed Abbott's original letter to the president of the Kingston Beach Golf Club, which complained about the amount of native hen and duck excrement on the course and requested permission to get the kill underway.

Kingston Beach Golf Club: plenty of rough

I think it is an important addition to our growing portfolio of Abbo's work that we have had the pleasure to publish.

See, letter to Tasmanian Police Commissioner; follow-up letter to Inspector of Police, letter to the Tasmanian Club, see Well done Wayne.

We've redacted the name of someone involved in an alleged "nasty incident" on the course, but you'll still get the gist of the story.

19 July 2010

The President
Kingston Beach Golf Club
Channel Highway
Kingston

Dear President

STATE OF THE COURSE AND MISBEHAVIOUR

I write for two reasons. The first is to put on record what I understand to be widely held concerns about the state of the course, and the second is to put on record a specific nasty incident.

For the past several years the numbers of native hen and duck on the course have been increasing. The point has now been reached at which:

• the amount of duck and native hen excrement is a serious hazard to human health, namely to the health of the green staff, members and visitors; and
• the native hen interfere directly with play, by squawking and running across the line of puts and through the line of the swing.

There is in my opinion only one way forward. There must be a heavy cull of both the duck and native hen. I am in a position to undertake or assist with such a cull but the nanny State requires that:

1. the permission of the Commissioner of Police be obtained to utilise appropriate fire arms within 250m of an occupied dwelling; and
2. the permission of the wildlife authorities be obtained to cull the duck out of season and the native hen at all – extraordinarily native hen are now protected species. That came about as a result of lobbying by the whining and bleating wet green left, the result of which has been to yet further undermine the rights of landowners.

I have some connections with the Police and wildlife authorities. If the Club authorises me in writing I will make appropriate representations on its behalf. The plan in principle would be to engage with one or two of my shooting friends and to attend late on a weekday afternoon, either with .22 or .17 HMR calibre rifles, for the native hen, and with small gauge shotguns for the duck. The advantage of the .22 is near silence; .17HMR kills more efficiently. I have a lot of experience, acquired before the rules changed with .17HMR culling of native hen. Most of the native hen would be exterminated in an hour and most of the ducks frightened away; there would probably be a need to repeat the dose on the ducks. It would be necessary to drive the course and the native hen would be dumped at an appropriate tip.

The end result in both cases would be the removal from the course of most of the native hen and a good proportion of the ducks.

As to misbehaviour, on 17 July 2010 I played in a stroke round, in a group of 3. We were followed by a group of 4, including xxx. We were invited by xxx to play in front of them because one of their group was late for their tee time. We did not hold them up at all.

On the 11th hole I lost a ball on my second shot, on the far western side of the fairway. I was forced to return to the point of origin, west of but near the riverbank, to play again, and as I arrived at the spot the group behind walked through me without being invited to play through. I expected them to wait for me to play – we were a three and the other two had gone ahead to the green – but they did not. They walked forward about 50m without looking back, and one member unknown to me, and xxx, played. I then played another poor shot, this time short, which ended up towards the centre of the group, who continued to show no sign of waiting for me to play.

I was very annoyed by this behaviour and I walked to the middle of the group, picked up my ball, thereby withdrawing from the competition, and as I walked past xxx who was by now 50m further down the fairway I told him that his group was not playing according to the rules and that if that was how they wished to play they could have the course to themselves.

xxx addressed me in the strong vernacular in a way which was physically threatening. The substance of the words used, in a shouting angry tone, was that I was in the fucking wrong and I should have fucking waited for them to clear ahead. I was not in a position to respond adequately without compromising my personal safety and I was therefore forced to walk through to my playing partners (in barely controllable fury, which still continues).

On the evening of 17 July xxx left a message on my phone at home by which he invited me to talk to him but did not apologise. I decline to talk to him.

I will not be physically threatened in this manner. If this behaviour continues I will be constrained to take appropriate precautions to ensure my personal safety on the golf course as it is assured in my own home.

Yours faithfully

A.J. ABBOTT

We thought you might find that a refreshing tonic.

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Solicitor-General Sealy: in chambers

What is this man doing?

This is the solicitor-general in and for Tasmania, Leigh Sealy SC - with a high powered telescope in his chambers.

He is exercising his responsibilities of executive and parliamentary oversight.

With his scope he can look deep into Parliament House and more importantly onto the top-floor balcony of His Excellency The Governor's private residence in Salamanca Place.

He has identified HE's Weber BBQ and importantly has noticed that the Gov gets his sausages from the Wursthaus gourmet deli.