Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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FIREARMS AMENDMENT BILL (NO. 2) 2000

Mr Speaker, I move that the bill now be read a second time.

The purpose of this bill is to amend the Firearms Act to ensure stricter compliance with the Australasian Police Ministers Council (APMC) national firearms resolutions and clarify some areas of the act. It will remove inconsistencies from the act to better facilitate the administration of the act and will enable complementary amendments to the regulations.

The majority of amendments involve minor administrative change. Some, however involved the tightening up, or a change of direction significant enough to warrant special comment. Others in response to Commonwealth government concerns and therefore need to be specifically drawn to the attention of the House. The definition of disqualifying offence will be broadened to enable offences such as sexual assault, drug trafficking and stalking to be included in the regulations, regardless of whether a firearm was involved. The inclusion of these additional offences will avoid the Commissioner having to exercise his discretion to refuse a licence on the grounds of the applicant not being a ‘fit and proper person’.

The creation of an additional specific category in the definitions of the act being ‘offence of violence’ will ensure that licences are not granted to inappropriate persons. The category of ‘offence of violence’ was a foundation block of the APMC’s resolutions that did not find its way into the act in 1997. The amendment will implement this aspect. The inclusion of ‘offence of violence’ in the act will provide for a lesser version of the disqualifying offence. A compulsory five year prohibition period and automatic revocation of licence will apply where an offence of violence is committed.

Some of the amendments have particular significance in the area of domestic violence and will more closely align the Firearms Act with the Domestic Violence Act. The relationship between the Domestic Violence Act and the Firearms Act has been the subject of debate. The debate has centred on the provisions where on the making of an interim or ex parte domestic violence order, the alleged perpetrator is subject to a compulsory five year prohibition period. This presently occurs irrespective of the final determination of the application for the DVO even where the application for the order is dismissed. Amendments to rectify this injustice will ensure that a licence is only revoked for the five year period on the confirmation of a Domestic Violence Order. Interim Orders will still result in the immediate suspension of a person’s licence and subsequent seizure of any firearms held. The licence is not returned unless no DVO is granted and if a confirmed or final DVO is made the licence is revoked and the five year disqualification period applies. The proposed amendments will remove a number of anomalies that have arisen in respect of licence suspensions on the granting of temporary, interim and ex parte Domestic Violence Orders. The effect of the amendments will ensure that people are treated more fairly and equitably under the act.

A number of changes to the transportation, safe storage and safe keeping requirements of the act have also been included. In the main these amendments are designed to either bring the Territory more into line with the APMC resolutions or clarify exactly what the obligations of licence holders are in this area. In particular, holders of a corporate, museum or club licence will be required to accept more responsibility through their nominee for the storage and safe keeping of firearms relating to those licences.
The changes to the ‘genuine reason’ provisions to accommodate firearm safety training will be welcomed by the Northern Territory University who are close to launching a firearm safety training program in line with national guidelines. Sporting organisations across the Territory will welcome the fact that starting pistols will no longer be classified as prohibited weapons and will in fact be exempt from the act. Amendments to the firearms armourer licence will enable the qualifications of applicants for this category of licence to be scrutinised and licence conditions to be tailored according to the applicant’s competency. Licence conditions will determine the extent of repair work and gunsmithing which they can carry out on firearms.

The omission of a specific firearms club licence from the act in 1997 was an oversight in the initial drafting of the act. This has now been rectified. Amendments have also been made to the regulations to allow the Territory to prescribe the necessary checks the Commissioner must carry out before granting a second or subsequent licence or permit to a person. This will serve a twofold purpose. It will help to answer the Commonwealth’s criticism on this issue. It will also serve as a means of streamlining the process of including prescribed checks in legislation when they are determined by the Commonwealth obviating the need for later amendment to the act.

Amendments have also been included to allow persons to send firearms through the post either within the Territory or interstate. These amendments represent an easing of the mail order provisions of the act. The amendments relating to the transportation of firearms will more closely align the Territory with original APMC resolution. A number of amendments have been made to Part 3, Licences and Part 4, Permits, of the act. They are mostly of a general administrative nature designed to tighten present provisions, clarify what is required of an applicant or provide the Commissioner with greater flexibility to administer the act. In particular, the impact of amendments in this and other parts of the act will allow for the Commissioner to take into account the prior history of an applicant of a licence holder from outside the Territory when deciding whether to grant or revoke a licence or permit.

This is a significant piece of legislation and greatly increases our powers to ensure that firearms are only placed in the hands of those people who should be legitimately authorised to possess or use a firearm. These amendments to the Firearms Act will significantly improve the operation of the act and ensure that a number of anomalies in the act will be addressed and provide a much fairer and more easily administered Firearms Act for all Territorians.

Mr Speaker, I commend the bill to honourable members.

Debate adjourned.


 

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