He’s the fifth candidate who will be vying to rock the foundations of the Nationals and win a seat in state parliament on November 12.

Mr Donato will stand for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and said it wasn’t a one horse race.

He said he was concerned about the state government’s deals with the Greens and Animal Justice parties to bring in legislation such as the greyhound racing ban.

A ban he wants repealed.

“If the Nationals go along with what the Liberals want to do, and they’re not prepared to stand up and represent their people, then we need someone who will,” Mr Donato said.

A hunter and fisher all his life, Mr Donato said he wanted to see some rules relaxed around firearms, including the 30-day cooling off period for people who are already licenced to hold firearms.

“If you’re licenced and the firearm is registered, I don’t see the point of a 30-day cooling off period, especially if you already own firearms. It’s bureaucracy gone mad.”

However, he would like to see stronger penalties for hunters who break the law.

“Illegal hunters give everyone a bad name, they should be prosecuted and they shouldn’t be allowed to hold firearms. The same goes for people who go illegal pig-dogging.

“They tarnish the reputation of people who do the right thing, in no way do I condone or support illegal hunting.”

Mr Donato admitted taking on the four other candidates in the Orange byelection would be a “tough battle”.

“I wouldn’t go in unless we thought we had a chance of winning, it’s a big test for the government,” he said.

“It’s a big test of their policies, governance and the public perception of it.”

At the very least, Mr Donato hoped to make the state seat of Orange a marginal one.

“It’d be good to make it marginal and to stand up and say, these country people will not be marginalised.”

Mr Donato took aim at the Nationals over forced council amalgamations.

“Council is grassroots democracy for local people,” he said.

“They’re the best placed people to address local concerns, they employ a lot of people and provide a lot of services.”

Mr Donato said forced mergers would lead to service cuts and less employment for office workers to plant operators.

“They’re going to be asking, ‘where does it put my future, our family's future’,” he said.

The last poll of Orange voters showed parties other than the Nationals, Labor and Greens were likely to secure 13 per cent of the vote, with a further 13 per cent undecided.

Mr Donato said he had received a lot of support from people who said they were long-term Nationals voters.

“They’ve had enough, they can see what’s happening and they want an alternative,” he said.

“It’s not just a one-horse race, there’s a real sense of people being frustrated with the Nationals.”

Mr Donato is planning to take leave to contest the election once the close of nominations is declared.