For the tiny Barrook Field and Game Sporting Clays Association it was $9625 to spruce up the canteen. The Boorowa Gun Club took $10,000 to upgrade pathways and install a water tank. The Hornsby RSL Rifle Club got $9787 to extend a deck and pergola, install a disabled toilet and "incorporate a purpose built rifle cleaning structure".

While other community groups and sporting associations fight an endless fundraising battle, NSW gun and shooting clubs are receiving $600,000 a year in funding under the so-called Safe Shooting Scheme, introduced by the Carr government two decades ago.

The NSW budget has allocated $2.4m to upgrade the Sydney International Shooting Complex. Credit:Anna Warr

In the financial year ending in 2016, 65 shooting clubs across the state received a total of $599,955 in grants.

The scheme was started after the NSW government agreed to introduce the tough gun laws that John Howard negotiated across the country after the Port Arthur massacre. Back then it was explained that the grants were needed so the clubs could adhere to tough new safety laws.