Australian government pledges $161.3m for national firearms register

National cabinet agreed to the register in December 2023, in what Dreyfus called ‘the most significant improvement in Australia’s firearms management systems in almost 30 years.’ Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

The Australian government has pledged $161.3m to establish the national firearms register, a proposal almost four decades in the making.

On Saturday the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, will reveal the four-year funding commitment in the May budget to establish the register and reform existing firearms management systems.