SSAA Queensland suspended from SSAA – new Queensland member body admitted

SSAA Inc has been forced to suspend SSAA Queensland as a member of the National Association. A full message from National President Andrew Judd has been provided to members with further background on this decision.

Shooters in Queensland can now join an organisation that is part of SSAA Inc by becoming a member of SSAA Queensland Hunting and Shooting (SSAA QHS). Queensland Hunting and Shooting Limited was admitted as a full member body of SSAA Inc on November 15, 2025.

By joining SSAA QHS you will receive your Australian Shooter magazine, $20 million dollars public liability insurance, participation rights in national titles and all other benefits of SSAA membership. SSAA QHS has applied with the QLD Weapons Branch for genuine reason status, and we are looking forward to approval in the near future. Join at membership.ssaa.org.au or contact the membership team at membership@ssaa.org.au or (02) 8805 3900 during office hours.

Members who join SSAA QHS will also begin receiving SSAA’s twice weekly email updates containing national news, videos, articles and stories from Australian Shooter and Australian Hunter.

Please find the letter from National President, Andrew Judd, below:

To all members of SSAA:

G’day everyone,

I write to you all regarding the ongoing issue between SSAA National and SSAA Queensland. As many people are aware, there have been problems between both and there are also plenty of theories, ideas and rumours about it, so I think it’s time to clear the air.

Firstly, I want to express to everyone that all individual members are important. It’s members that make our Association and run our equally important clubs. I for one still believe that no one is more important than the individual member and hope that we never lose sight of this.

Unfortunately, through the actions of the SSAA Queensland executive, SSAA Queensland has been suspended from the National Association. As a result, the members of SSAA Queensland are no longer ‘individual affiliates’ as per the constitution of the National body.

This is probably the most upsetting thing as it forces us to exclude SSAA Queensland members from SSAA events. As some of you are aware, I have many friends from the shooting world who are Queenslanders and the idea of shooting events without them is deeply upsetting.

SSAA Queensland was suspended on October 1, 2025 but individual members will still be able to compete in national events until December 31, 2025, as some members had paid subs in advance till then. As SSAA National doesn’t have access to the SSAA Queensland member list, we have honoured member competition rights until then.

SSAA National has tried to keep us all together and offered an extremely reduced affiliation fee to SSAA Queensland, who have refused to pay anything towards the National Association. Because of SSAA Queensland’s non-payment of fees, SSAA Inc (National) has had no choice but to address the status of SSAA Queensland. We are very aware that this situation isn’t the fault of the members of SSAA Queensland and I urge them to contact their state office to discuss it.

There is now a pathway for the individual members to be able to remain part of the greater SSAA family by joining SSAA Queensland Hunting and Shooting (QHS), which has recently joined the SSAA.

Being a member of SSAA QHS will mean you will receive a digital copy of Australian Shooter, $20m of public liability insurance, access to national competitions, international teams competitions and all the other benefits of being part of the SSAA as well as being affiliated with the National body. Just $25 extra to cover printing and postage will make sure you receive 11 printed copies of Australian Shooter magazine. As a bonus, for the next 12 months, all members of SSAA QHS will receive a free $50 voucher to spend in the SSAA merchandise store.

In the future, we want all states to follow the constitution and be involved in the management of SSAA. This can only be achieved by working together but while we have the current situation, it is impossible. Unfortunately, the fact that SSAA Queensland has started to duplicate the National services is going to make it very hard to reverse. It makes you wonder why they would spend SSAA Queensland members’ money to pay for services they were already receiving.

Speaking for myself and on behalf of SSAA QHS and the remaining SSAA states and territories, I’d like to say once again, we do not want members or clubs of any full member body leaving SSAA Inc (National). There are so many reasons why we should stay together – from saving money on services right through to having a united voice. We sincerely hope SSAA Queensland will agree to keep everyone together and we can continue as a happy unified group in the future. We will never lose sight of the importance of you all as individuals.

Hold steady and shoot straight,

Juddy

SSAA National President