Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The terrorists who killed 15 people on that horrible day had hate in their hearts, and guns in their hands. The tragic events at Bondi demand a comprehensive response from Government. As a government we must do everything we can to counter both the motivation and the method. We must deal with the motivation of hatred, and the firearms—the method—the attackers used to devastate so many lives.

This Bill delivers on the Government's commitment to address the methods of the attack.

The Bill provides a framework for ensuring Commonwealth intelligence can inform firearms licence decision-making in states and territories. It provides the foundations for the largest buyback of firearms since Port Arthur, nearly 30 years ago, and strengthens laws for the importation of firearms.

The Bill forms part of a comprehensive package of reforms, including the renegotiation of the National Firearms Agreement led by National Cabinet, and the Bill brought forward by the Attorney-General to further criminalise hateful and extremist conduct, and ensure that those who seek to spread hate, division and radicalisation are met with appropriate penalties.

It comes as a shock to most Australians that Australia has more firearms now than we had before Port Arthur, nearly 30 years ago. Many people were also surprised to see that it was possible for a visa holder to have a licence, and that the information held by our intelligence agencies was not integrated into the firearms licencing decisions.

A critical question that I've often been asked during this debate is if this national reform package had already been in place, how many firearms would the Bondi gunmen have held. Would it be six? Would it be five? Would it be four? The answer is zero. The father would have been ineligible because he was not a citizen. The firearms that they were using would not have been available to them. And the son, who didn't have a firearms licence in any event—had he tried, any intelligence holdings with respect to him would have formed part of the licencing decisions.

No one is pretending that dealing with guns deals with everything that happened at Bondi. But it does deal with the method, and we must deal with the method.

Buyback Scheme

The Bill will establish a framework for a National Gun Buyback Scheme to support proposed reforms to national gun laws. The Buyback would purchase surplus and newly restricted firearms, and reduce the now more than four million registered firearms in Australia. A buyback is essential to compensate state and territory firearms owners for surplus or newly restricted firearms, and ensure that restricted guns don't end up in the hands of criminals and organised crime groups.

The sheer number of firearms currently circulating within the Australian community is unsustainable. Research by the Australia Institute last year highlights over 2,000 firearms are stolen or diverted to the illicit market every year—that's roughly one firearm every four hours.

The less legal firearms in the community, the less opportunity there is for them to fall into the wrong hands, including potential violent extremists and serious and organised criminals. The National Gun Buyback Scheme will help get firearms off our streets.

Commonwealth Intelligence Sharing

The Bill will also lay the foundation for a new Commonwealth background checking framework to inform decisions to issue or renew firearm licences by the states and territories.

The model would leverage AusCheck's existing role in providing background checks to other sensitive licensing frameworks.

Intelligence held by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission would be shared securely and underpin firearms licensing decisions.

With these changes, the licencing system will combine with AusCheck and the National Firearms Register to make sure we're using the best information we have. When someone seeks a licence or renewal, AusCheck will make sure that our intelligence holdings are utilised.

When new persons of interest come to light for our intelligence agencies, they will be able to readily check if the person of interest is also a firearms holder. This means our intelligence agencies will get the best information they need. And states and territories, when deciding if someone is a fit and proper person to hold a licence, will have the best possible process before a licence is issued.

Details of the regime's operation, and how assessments are used in licencing, will be negotiated with states and territories.

Customs restrictions

While states and territories predominantly regulate firearms, the Commonwealth regulates the importation of them at the border.

There will be a range of measures introduced through customs regulations. These tougher, more robust regulations will protect the safety of the Australia community by ensuring only those with legitimate needs can import restricted firearms.

The regulations dealing with wearable ammunition equipment such as vests will not be dealt with today. There will be further consultation on this measure.

Criminal Code offences

At the time of Port Arthur, and the original National Firearms Agreement, there was no such thing as 3D printing, let alone 3D printed guns. The Bill updates Australia's Criminal Code to deal with this new technology.

The Bill will create new offences for using a carriage service to send electronic materials, like 3D-printing blueprints, used to manufacture firearms and explosives, or possessing or controlling this material through a carriage service.

These measures respond to feedback from the firearms community, including defences to ensure it does not capture those who seek to share material that assists with firearms maintenance, safety training and information on ammunition packing, and provides narrow defences for possession and use of 3D printing blueprints by those who are licenced to manufacture and modify firearms and firearms parts.

Other Customs amendments

The Bill also strengthens regulations that prohibit the import or export of goods that contribute to the spread of hate, extremism and promote the use of violence against persons and groups.

National Firearms Agreement

The measures in this bill complement the Government's ongoing work with states and territories to modernise and strengthen Australia's firearms laws. This includes the agreement by National Cabinet to develop options to:

Conclusion

In the wake of the tragedy at Bondi on 14 December, we as a parliament have a responsibility to act decisively to make sure Australians can be safe and feel safe. We must do everything we can to counter both the motivation and the method of the attackers. We must deal with both the hatred they had in their hearts, and the guns they had in their hands. This Bill is a critical step towards addressing their methods.

I extend my thanks to staff across the portfolio for their incredible work in developing this Bill. I also extend my thanks to the members of the public, advocates, community representatives and industry groups who have engaged in consultation to inform the measures I am introducing today. I commend the bill to the chamber.