Lawyers, guns and wildlife

Map of Tasmania ... Huge damages threatened against police for refusal to allow famous Tasmanian barrister to shoot animals from his Porsche ... Excrement on golf course fairways ... Native hens don't scare easily - they will need to be shot

Kingston Beach GC: some greens are unplayableCelebrated Tasmanian silk Andrew Abbott is threatening to commence Supreme Court proceedings so that can shoot wildlife at the Kingston Beach Golf Course.

The pending application and golf club shoot-out have the Tasmanian legal profession gripped with anticipation.

The police refused Abbo's request for an exemption from the Firearms Act. He says he will seek judicial review of that decision.

The silk wants to shoot wood duck, native hen, sulphur crested cockatoos and bush possums as he drives around the course in his 4WD Porsche Cayenne.

A bolt action AnschutzIn a letter seen by Justinian Abbott told Acting Police Commissioner Darren Hine that:

"I intend to cull native hen, cockatoo, and possum with .22 calibre RWS subsonic ammunition, which I know to be accurate and effective in my bolt action Anschutz rifle. It is very short range and silent. The rifle has an illuminated Schmidt and Bender scope."

The dam ducks will be dispatched by Abbo on foot and the plan is that the shooting would take place late afternoon or early evening early during the week "when no one is on the course".

The refusal to grant an exemption on grounds of public safety has distressed the tax and commercial silk. In a follow-up letter to the Inspector of Police he said:

"Your assertion that the proposed cull involves 'a significant public safety risk' is ludicrous and very strongly offensive.

It will be contested in the Supreme Court. I am drafting the necessary process."

Wood Duck: on the hit listAbbott suspects that the refusal is a "calculated deliberate attack on private rights" and if this is so then he will initiate personal proceedings against the Inspector of Police seeking aggravated and exemplary damages for misfeasance in public office.

Further and better, the golf course is unlikely to become unplayable because of the havoc caused by wild animals, "with insolvency the likely result".

According to Abbott, the consequences will be laid entirely at the coppers' door. "The damages for that, if the club pursues the issue, will be very substantial."

The famous Hobart advocate, from Malthouse Chambers, claimed in a strenuously argued letter to the acting police commish that wildlife at the club is now in "plague proportions never before seen".

There is a "very high level pressing need" for the shoot out so as to reduce the risk to human health posed by "the quantity of excrement placed on the course".

Tasmanian native hen: Gallinula mortieriiThere is also interference with play and substantial damage to fairways and greens.

Of course, some of the beasts could be scared off by Abbo's careful use of firearms. The stayers will have to be "significantly reduced". Native hen, in particular, are a problem.

"My experience with native hen is that they are not easily scared off. Most of them will need to be shot."

At the instigation of the club the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water & Environment has issued the silken hunter with a permit to shoot.

The department requires a 12-gauge shotgun to be used, whereas Abbott's preference would be for a 410 or 28-gauge to do the job.

The application for exemption was accompanied by a compelling outline of personal qualifications:

"My curriculum vitae, in relation to hunting, commences when I was 8 years old, when I shot my first rabbit under the direction of my uncle. I am now 54 years of age and from that it follows that I have had well over 40 years experience as a hunter, almost all of it in Tasmania.

My professional CV would not seem to be overmuch relevant but I note that on 12 April this year Crawford CJ appointed me Senior Counsel for the State of Tasmania. My professional expertise is in taxation and commercial law. I am keen to comply strictly with the law as it presently applies and, I add, generally."

Animal welfare activists have reacted with shock and alarm.

Spokesman for Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania, Chris Simcox, said the KBGC has become the new "native animal killing fields".

Abbott's taste for shot game first came to our attention in an earlier missive he sent to the President of the Tasmanian Club in 2002.

In another legendary piece of correspondence he told of splendid dinners at the club where he provided game for his guests.

He went on to complain about the thickness of the rim of the club's wine glasses and the outrageous and "defamatory" proposal to charge $10 corkage per bottle.

See letter to Tasmanian Club.

We asked the Kingston Beach Golf Club today (Sept. 20):

1. If judicial proceedings are to be pursued will they be in the name of the club or Mr Abbott?
2. Is the wildlife problem affecting fairways and greens in plague proportions, never before seen?
3. Has the club asked the department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water & Environment to permit a wildlife cull to go ahead.

On the weekend the golf club's course supervisor, Adrian Box, denied native creatures were being culled and added that there were no plans to do so.

Today (Monday, Sept. 20) Megan Sommerville, the administration manager of the club, replied that the KBGC, "will not be making any comment in relation to the matter at this stage".

Copies of the questions and the no comment were cc'ed to someone at clothing retailer Glasser & Parker and AJ Abbott.

Abbott's letter to (Acting) Police Commissioner of August 13, 2010 (revised layout)
Abbott's letter to Inspector of Police of September 10, 1020