Changes to gun laws are a diversion, says John Howard

2 months ago 6

An agreement was reached on “strong and focused action” to reform gun laws during a meeting of national cabinet on Monday night, attended by Albanese, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and state and territory leaders.

The federal government will also fast-track the creation of a National Firearms Register, which was first recommended following the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre and agreed to by national cabinet in 2023 after the Wieambilla shooting.

It was expected that the register would come into effect in 2028, however, Burke said the Commonwealth portion would be fast-tracked for the second half of next year.

Albanese said in 2023 that the register would fill gaps in firearms management, and state data would connect with a central hub to allow near real-time information sharing across the country, including on firearms, firearms owners and licences.

Burke said it “beggars belief” that an individual living in suburban Sydney required six firearms, and said better collaboration was necessary between police forces and intelligence agencies to monitor gun licensing as part of a raft of reforms recommended following the attack.

“There’s certainly issues in terms of connecting intelligence that we might have to gun licenses ... it not only going to the individual, potentially going to other family members, and those issues using criminal intelligence to underpin the licensing of firearms is one of the things that national cabinet agreed to work on yesterday,” Burke told ABC Radio National this morning.

“The Howard government did a great thing with the restrictions following Port Arthur. And we all thought that that had done enough, that Australia was now immune. In the most, in the most horrific way we’ve seen, that’s not true. And so to make sure that we use all the tools available to us, with respect to firearms, is absolutely essential.”

Opposition home affairs spokesperson Jonno Duniam would not confirm Coalition support the proposed gun law reforms, saying the opposition would need to “see the detail” first.

“If they had these reforms in place before these awful events occurred, would they have still occurred? Who knows? But people who want to inflict harm are going to do it, if not with guns, with explosive devices, with knives,” Duniam told Sky News on Tuesday.

“That’s not a reason not to act. As an opposition, we’ll see what’s put forward by way of reform. If it’s sensible, if it does actually have an impact and effect, then let’s have a go at it. But otherwise, if they’re not dealing with antisemitism, that’s the root driver behind what happened here, they’re not doing their job.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Monday refused to comment on potential gun reforms, saying she would not comment while families were in hospital caring for loved ones injured in the attack.

The Greens support the proposed reforms, but have called for additional measures including a national buy-back scheme for high-powered guns and the removal of recreational hunting as a reason for holding a firearm license.

Despite all states and territories signing up to the National Firearms Agreement following the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996, regulations have been applied unevenly across jurisdictions.

An Australia Institute report card, released in January this year found every jurisdiction failed to meet the minimum standards set by the agreement.

Western Australia is the only state that puts a cap on the number of guns a person can own, with the report noting two people in inner Sydney legally owned more than 300 guns each.

NSW had the most guns, with 1,125,553 registered firearms, and a third of those were registered to someone living in a major city.

No states prohibit the use of firearms for under-18s, and only Tasmania and NSW have made blueprints for 3D-printed guns illegal.

“Australia has a reputation for good firearm regulation in the wake of Port Arthur, but with increases in ownership rates and a lack of consistency and transparency around the country, the policy settings are creating dangerous conditions for the public,” Institute research manager Dr Alice Grundy said at the time.

Liberal backbencher Andrew Hastie said the conversation around gun law reform was a “cynical ploy” by Albanese to “protect his voting base in south-west Sydney”.

“What we really need to talk about is immigration … we need to differentiate between those who love Australia, our people and our values, and those who hate us,” Hastie said in a video posted to social media.

The government confirmed the immigration status of the Bondi shooters yesterday. Naveed Akram is an Australian-born citizen, and that his father Sajid Akram, who is now deceased, arrived in 1998 on a student visa, transferred to a partner visa in 2001 and after trips overseas had been on resident-return visas.

“There would be nothing in the immigration decisions that were made way back then by the Howard Government, I suspect that would have pointed to any level of risk about that individual way back then. So I don’t think we can view this as an immigration issue,” Burke told ABC Radio National on Tuesday.