Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Let me be very clear. The honourable member should listen very carefully. As the Minister for Justice said and as I have said, lever-action shotguns are in category A and have been since 1996. Because a large importation of lever-action shotguns was forecast, the government—this is the Abbott government, of course—took a decision to impose a temporary import ban on those guns, which means, of course, they could not be imported to go into any classification—A, B, C or D, the very restrictive classification. There was an import ban. That was quite expressly done in order to allow the council of state and territory justice ministers, who determine the content of the National Firearms Agreement, to come to a consensus on the appropriate classification of these lever-action shotguns. That import ban was continued because such consensus had not yet been arrived at.

Senator Leyonhjelm has a view about what that classification should be. He is entitled to that view and he is entitled to express it to me or to any other minister. What he has not proposed—at least, not in my hearing—is any weakening of the National Firearms Agreement as it stands. He has a view as to the manner in which it should be strengthened, and he is entitled to have that view, as are other shooters, organisations and their representatives. The government, of course, listens to those views, as I am sure justice ministers and premiers in other jurisdictions do as well.

So—number one: no weakening, no diminishment of John Howard's gun laws. The 1996 National Firearms Agreement is set there. That is our platform and we stand by it. There is discussion among the ministers about the possible reclassification of these lever-action guns, and we certainly encourage them to reach a consensus. Pending that, the import ban stays in place.

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