Robert Borsak MLC

Robert Borsak - the son of a Polish tailor turned freedom fighter who escaped a Gestapo death camp - is a former art student. He put down the easel to study accountancy and marketing and became a very successful businessman as chairman of the Brooker Holdings Group, manufacturers of aluminium boats, trailers and scaffolding systems.

But the 57-year-old was forced to scale back his other business activities (11 companies he was associated with turned over $50 million a year) after being elected the Shooters and Fishers Party’s fourth MLC last year on the sudden death of his friend and colleague, Roy Smith, on July 31.

"Semi-retired" at the time, he was the only real choice, having worked closely with the world's first shooter MP, John Tingle, and Robert Brown, MLC, after joining the party in 1992. He was chairman of the party three years later when John Tingle was elected and is its major strategist. Prior to being elected, he also resigned as chairman of the groundbreaking Game Council of NSW that sets the standard for conservation hunting in Australia.

In his feisty inaugural speech to Parliament, he placed on record that Roy's work would continue, especially negotiating further sensible changes to the firearms legislation "that unreasonably restrict legitimate gun-owners, while doing nothing to enhance public safety. He is also the champion of young shooters."

The keenest of hunters, Robert has chased trophy game all over the world, yet revels in bird and small game shooting and fine rifle collecting. As a child, he spearfished; today he fishes for trout.

Married for 34 years to Cheryl, whom he met while Scouting, the proud Ashfield father of three grown children has two beautiful grand children.

"I hunt because I like to hunt; it is part of my genetic make-up," he told gob-smacked pollies in his speech. The House was filled to hear him speak and he made no bones about the effect of politics on him.

"Personally, I resent being viewed or treated by anyone as a criminal in waiting. It is plainly just not acceptable."

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Robert Brown MLC

Robert Brown was elected to Parliament on the resignation of John Tingle MLC, on May 3, 2006.

As Brown noted in his inaugural speech, the Party is roughly evenly split between Labor and conservatives when it comes to voting in the Legislative Assembly. But, "All shooters have had a disproportionate measure of regulation and legislation shoved down their throats since the early 1990s. Most of it is bad legislation and over-regulation."

He has since been very active in the inner workings of the House via committees. Among others, he's a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety (Staysafe), and was elected chair of the vital Select Committee on Recreational Fishing in November 2009. Tables in December last year, the report recommends identifying land-based licensed and unlicensed discharges and pollution into marine protected areas and prioritising them for remedial action.

Robert Brown was a Member of the state committee of The Shooters Party from 1994-2004, becoming its chair between 2005 and 2007. He was branch President/State President of the Australian Deer Association (1995-1998); is a Member for Life, Drummoyne Sailing Club Inc.; life member of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW); member, Hills Hunting & Angling Club Inc.; ordinary member, Institute of Engineers Australia. Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Robert Brown is committed to working with the government of the day to improve matters related to firearms ownership and use and access for shooters and fishers.

“We will encourage the government to broaden the implementation of conservations through sustainable use – terrestrial and marine,” says Brown.

"For too long the fishers -like shooters before them - ignored the insidious advance of animal rights extremist ideology into the political spectrum. But no more."

Max Castle

Ask Max Castle what’s the biggest problem in the fishing world and he quickly answers back, Access. That's our problem.

Castle, a father of five with 10 grandkids, took up fishing as a young boy and owns three boats, from a canoe for bass fishing to an ocean-going boat. A former A-grade tennis player who worked as a civilian in senior administration in the Police for 30 years, he is now retired and devoting all his time to the cause of recreational fishing.

In addition to being involved in many clubs, he is also a committee member of the Australian National Sports Fishing Association (ANSA). He’s the Vice President and public officer of the Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW (the unofficial peak body and advocacy group). He was appointed by the Minister to the advisory council of recreational fishing in NSW (ACORF) and nationally is on the RecFish Australia board, the nation’s peak body for family fishos.

The Newcastle-born, 64-year-old sports fishing leader adds: "What's been progressively happening is that extreme groups are trying to control our fishing access via marine Parks."

Max says The Shooters and Fishers Party is not entirely against the parks. There's a vital need to preserve stocks of fish, but there is also need for better science behind it. We need alternative management options that engage fishers as part of the planning process. Up to now it's all been about green politics.

"We agree with various parks zones, but the sanctuary zone – a no-go fishing zone – is just wrong. We say fish are seasonal, travelling up and down estuaries and the east coast currents; we’re seeking approval to catch and release and/or troll for surface fish (pelagics) like tuna, marlin and other species."

We want balance in the community. A fair go for shooters and fishos - and an acknowledgement of the health and wellbeing, social and economic benefits hunting and fishing provide to the community, while maintaining the long established Australian lifestyle.

Jim Muirhead

Number two on Shooters and Fishers ticket, Jim Muirhead calls himself a 50 per cent shooter, "I shoot 50 per cent of the time."

He's a shotgun, rifle and pistol man, target shooter and budding deerstalker. Married, 46, and living on 25 acres at Finley, just north of the NSW border town of Tocumwal, the plant operator started shooting as a kid, mentored by an uncle, a professional rabbit trapper.

"My problem is I've got too many hobbies," he said. "I'm a muay-thai instructor (kick-boxer), member of pistol and hunting clubs. I shoot F&G, SSAA comps and go on retrieving trials. I'm a keen photographer, I fish for cod and redfin near home and ride my wife Viv's horses."

The Howard ascendancy got him worked up into active gun politics. "I was over it when Howard took my guns – a Remington 1187 Premier semi-auto shotgun and a semi-auto .22 Sterling. The police took them to Shepparton and I watched them get squashed. That really hurt."

"From my involvement with local clubs, I joined a district branch of the Shooters Party and started going to state conferences. I've been to seven so far. I put up my hand when the party asked me to be No 2. I felt they needed someone from the country, an ordinary bloke like me."

"I was one of the organisers against the river red gum environment alliance, trying to stop the extreme Greens and the government from excluding hunters and fishers from these areas. Now it's a national park. I believe in sustainable anything... like timber harvesting, fishing and hunting."

"My aim is to fight for access to our national parks. Let's utilise them and not have them locked up and burnt every few years. We must be able to use our country. It's ours, end of story. City bureaucrats have no idea how country people live and we want to control our own destiny and not be dictated to by people with no idea at all."