Robert Borsak (born 14 August 1953)^[1][2] is the leader of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF). He represents the party in the New South Wales Legislative Council.^[3] He was chosen by the Shooters and Fishers Party to fill the New South Wales Legislative Council vacancy caused by the death of Roy Smith on 30 July 2010.^[4]

During his time in NSW Parliament, Borsak has advocated for more funding and services for rural and regional NSW,^[5] defended the rights of law-abiding firearm users,^[6] introduced a bill to criminalise attacks on farms by animal rights activists,^[7] lobbied for further support of the greyhound racing industry^[8] and railed against attempts to restrict recreational fishing.^[9] Borsak has also called on the NSW Government to re-negotiate the Murray Darling Basin Plan, to secure a better deal for NSW farmers and regional communities.^[10] Borsak also has denied human involvement in climate change, stating that "scientific research, reports and arguments supporting human blame for climate change, were wrong".^[11]

Prior to be being elected to parliament, Borsak acted as Chairman of the Game Council NSW, which sets standards for conservation hunting in Australia.

He is an active hunter^[12] and fisher.

He was a guest on the 2014 show Living with the Enemy (Australian TV series)^[13]

Political career

Borsak is a member of a number of Legislative Council committees,^[1] which scrutinise government activity. He chaired an inquiry into the NSW Government decision to re-locate Sydney's Powerhouse Museum. He has been publicly critical of both the cost of the museum move and the NSW Government's failure to release a business case.^[14]

Under Borsak, SFF campaigned on a "biased for the bush" agenda during the 2019 state election campaign, pledging to divert funds and services away from Sydney and towards regional NSW.^[15] The party achieved its best ever result at the election, winning three lower house seats.^[16] Controversially, despite routine denial of preference deals between SFFP and the Labor Party, ^[17] Borsak was captured on film encouraging the taxi council to start a grassroots campaign to direct voters to Labor in the run-up to the February 2023 by-election^[18]

In 2022, Borsak was criticised for comments that he made suggesting that independent MP Helen Dalton, who had recently left the SFF, "should be clocked."^[19] Following Borsak's refusal to apologise for these comments, MPs Roy Butler and Philip Donato later resigned from the party, after failing to remove Borsak as leader.^[20]

References