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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Firearms Senator BOB BROWN (2.30 pm)—My question is to the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Ellison. I am sure that he and all senators will join me in wishing Sergeant Les Cooper, who was shot three (NOTE: Bob Brown used the injury of a times in Tasmania yesterday, a speedy recovery. Minister, of a Tasmanian Police Officer to create in the wake of allegations that a hand gun may an opportunity to push his own agenda.) have been used in this callous crime, is the government going to review the increasing loss through crime of hand guns in Australia for illegal use and the increasing importation of hand guns, including rapid fire semiautomatic hand guns, with a view to ensuring that they do not fall into criminal hands or are potentially available for criminal use and use against authorised police and security officers?
Senator ELLISON—Senator Brown raises a matter which is of great concern to the Commonwealth government and, I think, to state and territory governments around the country—that is, the diversion of firearms from the legal sector into the illegal sector
Finally, we are pushing with the states and territories a national firearms management system. We have committed $1 million to that, and it is based roughly on the register in Victoria, which we believe is very good practice in identifying a firearm, distinguishing features, its ownership, its whereabouts, and photographic (NOTE: Not clear if Ellison meant longarms are detail of the firearm. We believe that with a national to be included with photographic details) firearms management system we can keep track of firearms across the board, because you have people in today’s environment moving from state to state. It also assists those people who are legitimately involved in sporting and shooting events who can travel from one state to another and engage quite legitimately in their sport. That is something that we are urging the states to participate in. We are working with the Victorian government in relation to that.
Senator BOB BROWN—Mr President, I ask a supplementary question about semiautomatic hand guns. The minister will recollect that it was one of those weapons that was used to shoot 16 children in Scotland a little over a decade ago, at Dunblane. The (Brown actually said Dunblair) minister mentioned the stealing from private premises of hand guns. Can the minister say how many automatic hand guns there are in Australia and what legitimate use there can be for these hand guns outside those used for security purposes and for a very limited number of sports shooters?
Senator ELLISON—In the short time available, I will take that on notice and table a provision dealing with the regulation in relation to hand guns that we have put into place with the states and territories. It goes down to semiautomatic, length of barrel, magazine capacity and calibre. In relation to this issue, this is something which is ongoing and, in relation to the thefts that are mentioned, I think the report by the AIC—I will check the report—covers the types of firearms which have been stolen. Again, I will provide detail on notice to the Senate.
Ellison’s reply the next day
Senator ELLISON (Western Australia—Minister for Justice and Customs) (3.03 pm)—Yesterday I was asked a question by Senator Bob Brown in relation gun control. I undertook to provide further information to the Senate. I do that now. Contained in that is a recent report from the Australian Institute of Criminology. The document read as follows— Council of Australian Governments’ Communiqué 6 December 2002 The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) held its 12th meeting today in Canberra. The Council, comprising the Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association, had detailed discussions on significant areas of national interest. This Communiqué sets out the agreed outcomes of the discussions.
Senator Ellison proceeded to read out what was decided at the COAG meeting of Dec 6th 2002 which dealt with the new restrictions of handguns and their subsequent buyback, which of course we all now know about. Senator Ellison couldn't answer Bob Brown’s question about "how many automatic handguns are there in Australia” because it is a stupid question and one that might be expected from the anti gun owning Senator Brown - as no authority can possibly know.
In regard to stolen firearms, no actual figures were given nor any mention made of the reportedly large numbers of handguns stolen from the wharves in Melbourne and Sydney, some of which (it is reported) were destined for the Police Service and it is not known if these figures (reportedly 5000 or more) are factored by the Govt into the statistics of stolen handguns. There was no discussion in the Senate about the reported large numbers handguns being smuggled into Australia by ships crews nor by those with diplomatic immunity.
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