Roy Butler resigns from Shooters Party

And then there were none! The only two remaining Shooters Party members of the NSW lower house, Member for Orange Phil Donato and Member for Barwon, Roy Butler have both resigned from the party, joining former party colleague, Helen Dalton as independents. Photo TWH

Roy Butler will contest the seat of Barwon at the next state election as an Independent, after quitting the Shooters Fishers and Farmers party on Monday.

His resignation, along with fellow SFF Party MP, Phil Donato, makes for a bleak future for the party, which will now be without representation in the lower house, and a tough election campaign for Mr Butler, campaigning against Nationals candidate, Annette Turner.

Mr Butler said he had no choice after Shooters party leader Robert Borsak rejected a demand that he resign.

The unravelling of the party began in March when SFF Party Member for Murray, Helen Dalton resigned to become an independent just three years into her first term, amid claims she had been treated badly by the Shooters Party.

In September, Mr Borsak embarrassed the party when he made a physically threatening comment in parliament regarding Mrs Dalton, saying the President of the Legislative Council should have ‘got up and clocked her’.

“Despite advice from his colleagues that he should at least apologise for having made the remark, Mr Borsak remained unrepentant,” Mr Butler said.

“This was on top of a long list of grievances against Mr Borsak’s leadership style, so Mr Donato and I met privately with the party leader to offer him the choice of either stepping down and making a dignified exit from politics or we would seek to deal with this at the party AGM.”

It was a high stakes gamble and a last-ditch manoeuvre to restore integrity to the party, but in the end, Mr Butler and Mr Donato decided to walk away.

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