Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

On the specifics of the question, I have indicated to the member I am not in a position to verify facts about an individual component, but I assume that the member was motivated to ask this question because he is seriously interested in the issue of illegal firearms in the community, so I will take the opportunity to talk about that serious issue. If I am shouted down by the opposition when talking about illegal firearms and community safety, then so be it.

On the question of illegal firearms and community safety, the problems in the community have more than one source. One source of them is what is referred to as the grey market, which arose from the failure to return all appropriate categories of firearms under the gun buyback scheme. We have received advice from the Federal Police about the nature of the grey market and it is something that law enforcement officers obviously are concerned about and work on to deal with firearms that have gone into illegal use in the community from that market. Then, as a federal government, we must do everything we can to make sure that we protect the community from importation of firearms and, as a federal government, we are very focused on that. The relevant minister has been dealing with this issue. It was raised by Premier O'Farrell with me some time ago. I referred him to the appropriate intergovernmental committee to deal with this issue and we are very keen to work in a genuine and cooperative partnership with our state colleagues on this question, which is of clear community concern.

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