The creation of Australia’s first national firearms register “is one step closer to reality”, the attorney general Mark Dreyfus has declared.
Dreyfus made the remark after police ministers held an extraordinary meeting in Sydney on Monday, agreeing to launch public consultation for the register before a decision by national cabinet in mid-2023.
In December the fatal shooting of two Queensland police officers and a neighbour in Wieambilla renewed calls for a national firearm register more than three decades after it was first proposed.
A national register would allow officers in any location in Australia to access the same information in real time, thereby determining if a person holds an interstate gun licence. It would help track guns and gun owners across the country.
The register was first recommended of the Hoddle and Queen street massacres 35 years ago, with similar recommendations made after the 1996 Port Arthur shootings and Lindt cafe siege in 2014.
The reform has been held back by inconsistent and often incomplete or inaccurate data held by states and territories.
Australia’s first National Firearms Register is one step closer to reality.⁰At an extraordinary meeting of Police Ministers in Sydney today the Commonwealth, states and territories agreed to advance work on this critical public safety initiative. pic.twitter.com/KkZtU899pu
— Mark Dreyfus (@MarkDreyfusKCMP) April 3, 2023
The meeting agreed to ask the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to “provide advice on costed options for a national firearms register for consideration by police ministers and national cabinet in mid-2023”.
It agreed to release a consultation paper on the proposed reform before a further meeting in June.
On Monday, Dreyfus said that the meeting had been called “following the shocking events in Wieambilla”.
This meeting was called after National Cabinet asked Police Ministers to work towards a National Firearms Register following the shocking events in Wieambilla.⁰Police Ministers acknowledged the tragic deaths of Constable Rachel McCrow, Constable Matthew Arnold and Mr Alan Dare.
— Mark Dreyfus (@MarkDreyfusKCMP) April 3, 2023
Gareth Train, his wife, Stacey, and his brother, Nathaniel, ambushed police, shooting dead constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold and the Train’s neighbour Alan Dare.
Prior to the shooting, Nathaniel Train had his New South Wales gun licence suspended and an arrest warrant issued after he breached Covid-19 restrictions in 2021.
Before the meeting, Dreyfus said Australia already had some of the world’s strongest gun laws, but there was room for improvement.
“The Albanese government is committed to working closely with jurisdictions on this initiative, which is vital to preserve the safety of the community and police,” he said.
“A national firearms register will ensure police across all Australian jurisdictions have timely and accurate information to assess any firearms risk posed and protect the community from harm.”
The proposal for a firearms register has been pushed by the Queensland government.
In February the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said it was “quite clear we need to do better in cooperation between jurisdictions when it comes to firearms”.
At that national cabinet meeting, the state and territory leaders received a briefing from the director-general of spy agency ASIO, Mike Burgess, “about the rise of rightwing extremism – in particular, the so-called sovereign citizens”, he said.
