It’s been a bizarre week in regional Australia. On Monday, a local politician demanded that Channel 9 censor an upcoming episode of The Block—because it featured clay target shooting at the Clunes Field & Game Branch.

On Tuesday night, the episode aired anyway. Millions of Australians tuned in to watch contestants try their hand at a safe, legal, and family-friendly sport.

And by Wednesday, that very same politician was on social media kissing a wombat on the mouth—just hours after telling a parliamentary inquiry that rescued wildlife are never raised as pets.

You couldn’t make this up if you tried!

Let’s start with the censorship.  On Tuesday night's episode viewers saw safe, legal, and family-friendly clay target shooting. Volunteers at Clunes provided a welcoming, structured environment. The contestants laughed, cheered, and had a ball. But somewhere in Melbourne, a politician had decided this was all going to be too much positivity about Clay Target Shooting. Too wholesome. Too enjoyable. So naturally, the pre-emptive step was to launch a petition to demand Channel 9 scrub the episode from existence. Because nothing screams “champion of democracy” like banning Australians from seeing a clay disc turned into dust.

Now, about that wombat. In Geelong this week, the same MP lectured the Wildlife Roadstrike Inquiry that “rescued” animals are never raised as pets. Minutes later, she proudly posted a photo of herself kissing a wombat square on the face. Let’s pause for effect here.

Anyone who has ever encountered a truly wild wombat, those solid, cranky, bad-tempered little bulldozers of the bush, knows that attempting a smooch would likely result in a trip to emergency and a very awkward explanation to the triage nurse. Wombats bite. They charge. They don’t cuddle up for selfies. The only kind of wombat that tolerates a lipstick press to the nose is one raised as… you guessed it… a pet. The very thing she just declared doesn’t happen.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are supposed to believe that clay target shooters, the people who actually go through months of background checks, licensing, and training, are the dangerous ones. Those “bloodthirsty villains” smashing discs out of the sky on The Block. Truly, the horror.

Here’s the irony: if you swapped the roles, and a rural MP called for a TV station to censor footage of vegan cooking or wildlife carers hand-feeding joeys, the outrage would be deafening. The calls of “intolerance” and “censorship” would echo all the way from Brunswick to Byron. But when it’s rural communities, clay target clubs, and responsible firearm owners? Suddenly censorship is fashionable.

The hypocrisy isn’t just breathtaking—it’s comedy gold. Unfortunately, it’s also insulting to the thousands of regional Victorians who rely on clubs like Clunes for community, training, and recreation. These clubs don’t just teach shooting; they restore wetlands, plant trees, and manage habitat. They put in the kind of volunteer hours that no politician kissing a wombat for Instagram likes will ever match.

So here’s a humble suggestion: the next time a TV show wants to feature clay target shooting, let’s all agree to let Australians make up their own minds. And if an MP is really desperate for a bit of affection, maybe stick to kissing babies. They bite less than wombats.