Sporting shooters in New South Wales are paying less than $30,000 a year to lease a prime, 38-hectare coastal property just 12 kilometres south of Sydney CBD from the Federal Government in a 50-year deal.

Key points: Anzac Rifle Range being leased to NSW Rifle Association below market value

Anzac Rifle Range being leased to NSW Rifle Association below market value Average yearly rent for a home in the suburb is $42,460

Average yearly rent for a home in the suburb is $42,460 Labor senator says lease shows Government does "secret deals" with David Leyonhjelm

Finance Department documents revealed the $26,500 annual lease for the Anzac Rifle Range was well below the market value for the beachside land.

The median house price in Malabar is $1.91 million, and house prices in the suburb are growing by more than 10 per cent a year, according to CoreLogic data.

But for the shooting facility — which includes four shooting ranges, a clubhouse, a caravan park and a car park — the NSW Rifle Association pays $16,140 less than the average yearly rent of $42,460 for a home in the suburb.

Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm is taking credit for the generous 50-year lease.

"It was a goodwill thing, it was also good from the Government's point of view, they'd been involved in litigation with the rifle association, had lost twice and it was a very unsatisfactory situation," he said.

"As a result of the negotiation I was happy.

"I think its highly unlikely we would've got the happy outcome we have achieved, if it had not been for my intervention."

Labor's Matt Thistlethwaite, who represents the electorate where the shooting range is placed, said it showed the Government did "secret deals" with Senator Leyonhjelm.

"Well he's certainly got the Government by the short and curlies, when it comes to these issues," he said.

The Malabar Headland houses the largest rifle range in the southern hemisphere and has hosted gun enthusiasts for over 150 years.

But Mr Thistlethwaite said it was no place for a shooting range.

"I've got two young kids and I take them down to Malabar Park regularly on a Saturday," he said.

"You hear the rifle cracks in the background and my kids ask 'what is that, Dad?'"

At the start of last year, then environment minister Greg Hunt had promised to investigate alternative sites for the shooting range.

But the Government never publicly announced the $26,500 price tag for continuing to keep the shooters on the ocean-view property.

With the budget in black, Senator Leyonhjelm expected the Government to use the property to help find their way to surplus.

"This land, I think is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions," he said.

"So I anticipated that the Government might be interested in selling it off or at least selling some of it."

Mr Thistlethwaite has promised to try and renegotiate the lease if Labor is elected, and said he wanted to make the area a public park.

The lease is indexed by 3.5 per cent every year.

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