Tasmania’s state government has tabled firearms reform legislation that has drawn immediate criticism from Labor, the Greens and gun control advocates who say it waters down community safety measures.
Police Minister Felix Ellis introduced the Firearms Amendment (Strengthening Firearms Security) Bill today in parliament
He said it would deliver the National Firearms Register, increase penalties for stealing firearms and introduce mandatory minimum sentences for possession of stolen guns.
“If you steal a firearm or you’re caught with a stolen firearm, you will spend time behind bars,” Ellis said.
He described the register as a critical intelligence-sharing platform between law enforcement and intelligence agencies, pointing to failures highlighted by the Bondi attack.
“New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has described Bondi as a giant intelligence failure,” he said.
“It is very strange that someone could be on an ASIO watchlist and be travelling to terrorist hotspots around the world that was known about by law enforcement agencies and yet still able to access firearms.”
The bill reclassifies straight pull and button or lever release firearms to the more restrictive Category C licence.
It also introduces Australian citizenship as a requirement for firearms ownership, with carve-outs for New Zealand citizens and people with legitimate work purposes.
However, grandfathering provisions will allow existing owners of reclassified firearms to keep them, though they will not be able to purchase new ones.
Non-citizens who already hold licences will also be grandfathered in.
Ellis said many non citizen owners had “complied with our laws here in Tasmania when it comes to their firearms and good character” for decades.
“We shouldn’t be delivering legislation that’s about punishing law-abiding firearms owners,” he said.
The bill does not include caps on the number of firearms an individual can own, a measure both Labor and the Greens have been pushing for.
Ellis said the government continued to oppose caps, consistent with most other Australian jurisdictions.
“People understand that it’s not the number of firearms, it’s the hands that they’re in,” he said.
The legislation also includes a registration process for antique firearms and provides for a six-month voluntary buyback on all firearms following the bill receiving Royal Assent.
Ellis said negotiations with the Commonwealth on a broader buyback scheme were continuing.
More than 600 submissions were received during public consultation.
Labor leader Josh Willie accused Premier Jeremy Rockliff of betraying Tasmanians on community safety.
“If you’re soft on guns, you’re soft on crime and this is a betrayal of Tasmanians and community safety by Premier Rockliff,” Willie said.
He said the premier was “kowtowing to the gun lobby” and worried about One Nation on the right flank of the Liberal Party.
Willie drew a contrast with former Premier Tony Rundle and former Prime Minister John Howard, who led firearms reform after the Port Arthur tragedy.
“Premier Rockliff is nowhere near their category,” he said.
Willie confirmed Labor would pursue amendments and said he had “no faith Premier Rockcliff is even committed to the buyback now.”
Greens MP Tabatha Badger called the legislation “an incredible disappointment” and flagged serious amendments.
“This minister would rather get clicks on social media than what he would actually help fix public safety in our state,” Badger said.
She said the bill differed significantly from the draft that went out for public consultation.
Badger then raised concerns about grandfathering clauses, unclear reclassification definitions and the inclusion of antique firearms provisions she said had been “slipped in.”
She called on Labor and the crossbench to work together on amendments.
“If minister Felix Ellis can’t provide it, we will sit down and do our best to do so,” she said.
Gun Control Australia vice president Roland Browne described the bill as “a national embarrassment,” saying the grandfathering provisions meant “it’s recategorisation with no recategorisation.”
Browne said giving the police minister the power to prescribe a new “genuine reason” for gun ownership was “clearly in breach of the National Firearms Agreement” reached after Port Arthur.
Ellis rejected claims of a backflip, saying the government had been consistent throughout.
Debate on the bill is expected to begin in the next sitting week starting September 1.
