Fearing referendum, hunters launch petition to amend law

FKNK to organise petition to amend Referenda Act to prevent 'minorities' from invoking law to organise abrogative referendum.

Lino Farrugia wants MPs to amend the referendum laws
Lino Farrugia wants MPs to amend the referendum laws

Hunters' lobby FKNK has launched a counter-petition to amend the Referenda Act, after the Coalition Against Spring Hunting announced it had collected over 30,000 signatures and that it was closer to reach the necessary amount of signatures to hold a referendum to abolish spring hunting.

The FKNK today said it was unable to say what it could do if the CASH campaign gets the necessary 34,000 signatures to force the referendum.

"It's a direct attack of one minority on the rights, traditions and privileges of another minority," FKNK president John Perici Calascione said.

The FKNK today launched its own campaign, to collect signatures for a petition to amend the Referendum Act so as to "protect the rights, interests, and privileges for all minorities."

While the CASH petition is to legally demand an abrogative referendum for voters to decide whether to ban spring hunting as laid down by EU rules, the FKNK wants to petition MPs to amend the Referenda Act.

"Asking for a referendum on spring hunting is the start of an attack by minorities over anything they do not agree with. Today it is hunting, tomorrow it will be horse enthusiasts, fireworks,  cyclists, climbers or any other hobby," Perici Calascione said.

Asked what is the FKNK's position about the numerous illegalities being carried out during the autumn hunting season and illegal trapping still carrying on, Perici Calascione said that despite these "bad apples" the FKNK could keep working with the authorities to clamp down on illegal hunting and trapping. "If anyone, especially members of the press which support the campaign, know of any illegalities, you should report it to the police," he said.

avatar
Shame on FKNK,lets sign the petition so as to hold a referendum and abolish spring hunting once and for all.
avatar
jiena ma naqbilx mal kacca pero min webbielom meta riedna nithlu eu li kollox sejjer jibqa l istess ghandhom ragun irrabjaw ukullhadd ipacpac fuq ambjent hmieg tal klieb kulhadd jarmi zibel kif gie gie qbat wiehed bil kelb wara biebi u ghamel pasta li nahseb kien ilu x gighma ma jaghmel ghax il sidu ghatlu biex jigbru tajx kemm offendini bil famija u il mejtin ahna nies opportunisti kollox kif jaghqbel grazzi
avatar
Considering how many times the hunting lobby was able to hold our political parties to ransom over successive elections, now that the will of the masses is being explicitly expressed, the hunters are now playing the proverbial sacrificial lamb. With their hands soaked in blood and gore from mutilated feathered carcasses, they now want to shoot down what’s left of our democratic credentials. Wonder which brilliant legal mind came up with that loophole tactic.
avatar
Dear Elwenzu,you just quoted( Go ahead- start your collection of signatures. Bet you won't garner any way near 30,000)I personally guarantee that if hunters and trappers take this issue seriously and want to gather 30,000 signatures,they will,and they do not need the six months BLM needed to do so. Maltese citizens are well aware that if this comes to the worse,no one can put his mind at rest that his passtime will ever be secure. I am in to sign the FKNK petition.
avatar
"It's a direct attack of one minority on the rights, traditions and privileges of another minority" Sur Perici, if a referendum decides in favour of the ban, then even you can see that it is not a minority. Or is it so difficult to understand?
avatar
FKNK (sic) have really lost it when they compare cyclists, climbers et al, to the cowboys who think they own the countryside solely to support their barbaric attitude to nature. Go ahead- start your collection of signatures. Bet you won't garner any way near 30,000.
avatar
Priscilla Darmenia
I suggest to FKNK that instead of asking for the law on referenda be changed they do as the “Iva” group in the divorce referendum. – The “Iva” group although in a minority convinced people to vote in favour of divorce and from a minority they became a 54% majority. – Changing the law may suit you now but it may work against future requests by other groups. – If hunters and I mean all hunters, abide by the law I would vote for hunting to remain. However some of your members and others of other clubs do not give a hoot about the hunting laws and if they persist in shooting whatever that flies I would vote for the total abolition of hunting. – Yes, convince people to vote in your favour by giving good example and shame those members who break the law and not protect them.
avatar
In maltese we say 'Ghall-kull hatba hemm il-mannara' You must have avoided the politics at this matter of spring hunting during the election campain. The result is REFERNDUM.
avatar
ha ha ... tajba Mr Perici Calascione. 1. Seems you have forgotten what a referendum is all about. This is not a general election hux ;)? 2. Worried that the majority of the populous would like your thinly veiled killing sprees relegated to the annals of history?
avatar
ha ha ... tajba Mr Perici Calascione. 1. Seems you have forgotten what a referendum is all about. This is not a general election hux ;)? 2. Worried that the majority of the populous would like your thinly veiled killing sprees relegated to the annals of history?
avatar
Ghad li ma nifhimx kif ghad hawn min jinhtieg jikkaccja [sew fil-kuntest ta' Malta u wkoll f’imkejjen ohra] biex ihossu ragel, nghoddu zball kbir li l-maggoranza timponi bdil bhal dan. Din ghodda li trid tintuza b'ghaqal u mhux bl-addocc. Kemm tkun ahjar l-edukazzjoni bil-mezzi tax-xandir li f'Malta mhux imhaddma bizzejjed biex ighallmu.
avatar
Ghad li ma nifhimx kif ghad hawn min jinhtieg jikkaccja [sew fil-kuntest ta' Malta u wkoll f’imkejjen ohra] biex ihossu ragel, nghoddu zball kbir li l-maggoranza timponi bdil bhal dan. Din ghodda li trid tintuza b'ghaqal u mhux bl-addocc. Kemm tkun ahjar l-edukazzjoni bil-mezzi tax-xandir li f'Malta mhux imhaddma bizzejjed biex ighallmu.
avatar
The usual FKNK twisted logic... Firstly the referendum to revoke the legislation that currently allows spring hunting, will be decided by the majority (not minority) of those who vote. Hunters have held at ransom the accommodating PLPN, and have abusively disregarded in the most vile manner the rights of families and tourists to enjoy the scarce countryside peacefully and safely. FKNK is now shamelessly trying to play the martyr and sow fear amongst other ‘minorities’ – which effectively includes everyone – except obviously (true) environmentalists. Whilst I would support hunters’ right to call for a referendum to revoke the Referenda Act or any other act, the FKNK are showing their true colours by again trying to get politicians to run roughshod over the public's interest, simply to satisfy the bloody egoistic lusts and excesses of hunters. If hunters really believe that their self acclaimed socio-cultured virtues (ahem) are appreciated they should put themselves to the public vote – but obviously such perennial egocentric perverted rambos will never pluck such courage!
avatar
Rights are already protected by referendum act, but privileges should never be protected against the will of the people! Why don't we take their philosophy to an extreme and dissolve parliament then? This way we can ensure that no one's privileges are touched and that nothing can ever change from the status quo. What the hunters are suggesting is insane and a direct attack on democracy!
avatar
DO NOT GIVE IN TO THESE THREATS. ALL OUT WAR HAS JUST BEEN DECLARED! KURAGG!
avatar
How can the hunters` lobby talk of rights and culture? Nature does not belong to them but to all of us. We have a right to enjoy birds.....they have NO right to kill them.
avatar
Maybe if a bunch of you weren't such complete and utter twats those signing a referendum would be a 'minority'. Of course, your pathetic excuse for existence, along with many of your semi-literate foul-mouthed chimps with a dangerous toy, make the best to annoy as many people as possible and think your 'rights' are of more value than anyone's. I suggest you crawl back under whichever pile of manure you crawled out from. Too late for speaking about bad apples i'm afraid. You reap what you sow. In your case, an increasing majority who hate you.
avatar
Even a moron can see that the petition leads to a referendum where the majority, and not the minority, will express its choice. FKNK cares not a hoot about democracy and yet has the gall to preach about what democracy is all about and tries to gather the support of other associations. Ramblers and climbers do not usurp the rights of others with shotguns in hand, Mr. Farrugia. Don't you see that the Maltese have had enough of hunting and not only spring hunting but all hunting.
avatar
The petition will not take away anything. It will simply give an opportunity for ALL of Malta to determine whether they want the current situation to continue. There is no such thing as a right to kill birds, let alone a right to kill birds during a specific season. The hunters have shown time and again that they will not abide by the laws, and FKNK have not convinced anyone that they tried to put a stop to any illegalities. If a dozen Birdlife or CABS volunteers can report so many cases, where the the cases reported by FKNK with its thousands of shotgun-toting members in the countryside? If I were a law-abiding hunter and I knew of any "bad apples" who were putting the entire community at risk I'd be the first to report them. Where are they? If FKNK really wanted to, there would be no "bad apples" because they'd all be awaiting trial by now. So now we'll have a referendum and see how the Maltese population feels about the continuous illegalities by hunters. Of course if FKNK wants to organise its own petition to try to place itself beyond reach by future referenda, they can do so and find out what the Maltese population thinks about THAT. The sad attempt to rope in other enthusiasts like climbers is more idiotic than his usual fare. Sure, when you start hearing daily reports of criminal activity by climbers, when they start preventing others from enjoying the countryside, there might be a comparison. Until then there is none.
avatar
My dear FKNK, your argument that one minority is trying to remove the rights of another minority is bullshit, please excuse the expression. If the referendum on spring hunting is carried out and if the people of these islands decide in favour of the abolishment of spring hunting, it will no longer remain a minority but a huge majority. So does the FKNK want to remove the rights of the majority to put forward a referendum and decide on it? The FKNK believes in as much democracy as it believes in the rights of birds to live as God willed them. There is no way the people of these Islands are going to accept a referendum to abolish its rights to regulate the legislators.